Jalandhar, January 2
Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal today demanded national rethinking on Central tax-sharing formula for an equitable distribution of tax share and encouraging better performing states.

Speaking at a seminar organised by a media group on “Problems and potential of Punjab” here today, Sukhbir said Punjab, despite being the largest contributor of foodgrains to the national kitty, had been discriminated against by the Centre for the past 63 years and Punjab’s development had suffered as it was only getting a meagre share of 1.29 per cent of the Central taxes collected from the states.

The Deputy CM further said despite being one of the highest contributors to the Central taxes, the tax-sharing formula was tilted towards populated states like Bihar, UP and Maharashtra.

He said while comparing the progress rate of Bihar and Punjab, one should take into account that Bihar was getting 12.4 per cent of the Central taxes whereas Punjab’s share was only 1.29 per cent.

Sukhbir said whatever progress Punjab was making was because of resurgence in the revenue collection during the SAD-BJP government as VAT collection that was Rs 5,000 crore had reached the magical mark of Rs 11,000 crore.

Sukhbir said the initiation of 70 reforms by March 31 in all departments, including computerisation of land records, abolition of affidavits and self-attestation, was all set to make the life of the common man easy.

Focusing on the accountability of bureaucrats, he said the Punjab Government was soon coming out with an ordinance to implement “right to service” act bringing important citizen services like ration card, licence etc. that would make government employees accountable as well as punishable for delay in service.

On this occasion, Industry and local Government Minister Manoranjan Kalia outlined steps taken by the government for industrial development specially the setting of focal points in Rajpura and Jalandhar.

CLP leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu, former Union minister Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, former FM Surinder Singla, CPM leader Mangat Ram Pasla and BSP state president Avtar Singh Karimpuri also expressed their views. MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal was also present on the occasion. 

Jalandhar, January 2
Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal counted the main issues on which the Congress will contest the Assembly poll scheduled to be held in February next year. During her visit here, she said: “Rampant corruption and law & order problem in the SAD-BJP government and development to be done by the Congress if it voted to power will be her party’s poll plank.”

Bhattal, who was accompanied by PPCC secretary Virendra Sharma and DCC president Arun Walia, said corruption in the Badal government had crossed all limits. The law and order situation had so much deteriorated that scores of incidents of purse, mobile and chain snatching occurred daily, she added.

To a query, she claimed that the Congress was united in Punjab and the PPCC president, Capt Amarinder Singh, consulted her before taking any decision on important issues. She said being hailing from Punjab, PM Manmohan Singh released huge funds for state farmers under different schemes, but a major part of these funds did not reach to the needy peasants.

Earlier, speaking at a seminar on “Problems and potential of Punjab”, Bhattal said IT hubs and a large number of industries should be set up to deal with the problem of unemployment in the state. 

Amritsar, January 2
Even as the Sikhs for Justice, a New York-based human rights advocacy group, is gearing up to file a petition with the UNO seeking the recognition of the 1984 riots as genocide, it has come to light that the Canadian Government had rejected a similar petition filed by Newton-North Delta MP Sukh Dhaliwal and Brampton West MP Andrew Kania in June last year.

Rejecting the petition on September 20 last year, the Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs said: “Events of 1984 were clearly horrific and deeply regrettable. The importance of seeking justice for the victims should not be diminished. Nonetheless, the crime of genocide is a specific intent offence requiring a high threshold of proof of intent to destroy an identifiable group. As far as the Government of Canada is aware, there is no evidence of such intent in this case.”

The reply also mentions about the Nanavati Commission report and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s apology for the 1984 riots. “In August 2005, the Nanavati Commission report on the 1984 riots was tabled in New Delhi. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh subsequently issued a public apology to Sikhs and the nation as a whole on August 1, 2005, offering a rehabilitation package for the victims and promising action on specific cases named in the report,” it stated.

The response to the petition also dwelt upon India’s vibrant democracy, independent judiciary and free Press. “India is a fully functioning democracy with an independent judiciary and has bodies such as the National Human Rights Commission and 18 state human rights commissions that are designed to receive and process human rights complaints as directed under the Indian ‘Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993’. There have been two commissions of inquiry and eight inquiry committees appointed by several Indian Governments since 1984, who were all tasked with examining riots.”

“Canada recognises that it is the responsibility of the Government of India to fulfill its international human rights obligations and to ensure the safety and well-being of its citizens regardless of religion and ethnicity. Canada also recognises that India is a highly diverse country facing many challenges but serves as an example where civil society and democracy flourish and the Press plays an active and responsible role in reporting alleged human rights abuses,” it further added.

However, Canada had expressed regret over the violence and loss of life that resulted from the riots. Dubbing promotion and protection of human rights an integral part of its foreign policy, it said: “Where there have been allegations of gross human rights violations or crimes against humanity, Canada stresses the need for independent investigations and the importance for accountability of those who are responsible.”

Meanwhile, on a recent visit to Amritsar, Dhaliwal had said he had filed the petition on the people’s demand and was willing to do so once again. 

Fazilka, January 2
Braving adverse weather conditions, three elderly citizens of Fazilka have been sitting on relay fast for the past about four months seeking district headquarters status for Fazilka. The dharna initiated by Sanjha Morcha has entered 140th day today.

It is a record or sorts in this area that three citizens has been sitting on dharna for the past 118 days. They include Baba Jit Singh (91) of Radha Swami Colony, Radha Krishan Sehgal (78) of Gandhi Nagar and retired Junior Engineer with the Punjab State Electricity Board Surjit Singh Taneja of Adarash Nagar.

Their dedication for the cause can be assessed from the fact that Taneja has also motivated his son Sukhwinder Singh and grandsons Gobind Singh and Arjun Singh to sit along with him today on the relay fast. “Our determination for the interest of Fazilka town has been increasing day by day and we will achieve our target of getting district status for Fazilka soon,” Taneja said.

“Even after retiring as a head constable in Punjab Home Guard, I still have the same spirit of fighting for the cause of justice,” says Baba Jit Singh

The trio has stated that if their demand was not met, they would sit on fast unto death being initiated by Sanjha Morcha from January 5.

Spokesperson of Sanjha Morcha Raj Kishore Kalra has expressed hope that the Cabinet would consider their demand favourably in its meeting scheduled to be held on Monday in Chandigarh. Quoting sources Kalra said the issue of district headquarter status has been placed on the agenda and hopefully it would be discussed in the meeting to be presided over the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. He maintained that if their demand was not accepted, local MLA Surjit Kumar Jyani and SAD Circle president (rural), Fazilka, Charan Singh would sit on fast unto death on January 5.

Ferozepur, January 2
For residents of Ferozepur year 2010 seems to have failed to remain fair towards the fair sex as crime against them witnessed a significant jump.Though crime against women in the district has been a common feature in the previous years due to its social structure and backwardness prevailing particularly in the villages close to Indo-Pak border that are deprived of basic amenities even after 63 years of Independence, the data is likely to force the authorities concerned lay special stress to prevent the same in the future.

As per figures available with The Tribune, about 15 women of this border district were murdered while 33 were subjected to rape in 2010 as compared to murder of 12 women and rape of 32 in 2009. In 2008, four women were murdered and 25 women raped.

Not only this, the district that has one of the highest sex ratio in the state. As many as 46 women registered dowry harassment cases against their husbands and in-laws in 2010 as compared to 27 cases registered in different police stations of the district in 2009.

What is more alarming is that in 2010 about 10 women were killed by their husband and in-laws after they failed to fulfil their lust of more dowry in against the killing of six women for inadequate dowry in 2009.

The crime scene has also projected some positive pictures in 2010 as no case of female foeticide was reported. The number of cases related to molestation came down to nine from 17 incidents witnessed in 2007.

However, about 22 women were arrested for their involvement in the smuggling of narcotics in the district, nine were arrested for their involvement in illicit distillation of liquor and one woman was arrested for theft. 

Ferozepur, January 2
The state government has issued a chargesheet against Harbans Singh Chahal, circle education officer, Faridkot, for his alleged involvement in issuing fake experience certificates to two candidates for their recruitment as education provider while he was district education officer, Ferozepur.

Official sources said chargesheet was issued by the Principal Secretary, Department of Education (Schools), Punjab, when during the verification of teaching experience certificates of selected candidates for the posts of education provider it was found that two candidates had fake experience certificates.

Sources also stated that when the two candidates, namely Archna Rani and Parvinderjit Kaur, were issued notice for their removal from services, they approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court for relief.

Chahal had failed to verify whether the teachers actually had the experience or not and hence he was negligent in performing his duties, the chargesheet read.

Sources said the Principal Secretary had asked Chahal to submit a written reply within 21 days and if he failed to do so, action would be taken against him.

Chahal while denying the allegations said he had verified before putting his signature on the experience certificates. He added that those who had verified that the experience certificates issued to Archna and Parvinderjit were genuine or not had not done their job properly. He said he would give a reply of the chargesheet when he would receive it. “I will take legal action against those who have maligned my image by proving those teaching experience certificates as fake,” he added. 

Patiala, January 2
Despite clear guidelines by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) regarding the proper use of the National Emblem, various government departments are still violating norms by not using the prescribed format.

Government departments across the country were asked to use “Satyameva Jayate” (Truth alone triumphs) written in Devanagri below the profile of the Lion Capital in the stamped official seal or it would be considered incomplete and amount to the violation of rules and laws.

Perturbed at the incomplete use of the National Emblem, which is also the official seal of the Government of India, the MHA had asked officers at various government headquarters to issue suitable instructions for compliance with the orders.

According to information collected by TNS, many departments are still not following instructions and using the incomplete logo. “We are not aware of any such instructions. Since we have been using the official stamp like this for many years, no instructions have been passed to us by senior officers,” said a policeman.

Interestingly, many PPS officers, who are supposed to use this emblem on their shoulder badge, are also not following the prescribed format. “I don’t think it is wrong,” said a DSP-level officer.

In a communiqué issued to various government agencies, state governments and UT administrations some time ago, the MHA had made it clear that since the National Emblem is an adaptation from the Sarnath Lion Capital showing three lions on the abacus with Dharma Chakras in the centre, a bull on the right and the galloping horse on the left and outlines of Dharma Chakras on the extreme right and left with the motto “Satyameva Jayate” written in Devanagri below the profile of the Lion Capital, it should be used in the complete format.

The communiqué further warns that the incomplete display of the aforesaid is the violation of the State Emblem of India (Prohibition of Improper Use) Act 2005 and State Emblem of India (Regulation of Use) Rules 2007. 

Rajpura, January 2
Dense fog has been leading to frequent traffic disruptions on the Delhi-Amritsar highway for the past several days. Situation goes almost chaotic during peak traffic hours in the morning and evening.

Several accidents have been reported on this busy stretch of the highway so far. Two persons lost lives in an accident last week.

Commuters say there are not enough ambulances to deal with such situations and even the police patrolling is not adequate on the highway.

Traffic police officials maintain that rescue operations also get affected in winters as reaching the spot becomes difficult due to fog.

“Traffic often gets disrupted due to fog during morning and evening hours. Two-wheeler riders are the most vulnerable to accidents in such situations,” said Jaswinder Singh, a resident of ITI Chowk, Rajpura.

“Visibility is severely hit due to fog in remote open areas. Sometimes it gets reduced to just around 50 feet, thereby increasing the chances of accidents,” he added.

Traffic police officials at Sirhind said poor visibility during evening hours made drivers switch on headlights. “Many people drive vehicles at high beam, making it difficult for drivers coming from the opposite direction to see properly. Few drivers use fog lamps and defoggers,” said an official.

In charge of the traffic education cell at Fatehgarh Sahib Sub-Inspector Rajesh Kumar said though the department had been trying to educate commuters to drive slow, very few people obeyed such instructions and the traffic rules.

Besides road traffic, rail traffic has also been hit in the area due to bad weather conditions. Many trains are running behind schedule.

Railway officials at Sirhind and Rajpura said passenger trains were the worst-affected. These were running five to 10 hours behind schedule. The Bandra-Amritsar Deluxe train was running 17 hours behind schedule. 

Fatehgarh Sahib, January 2
Residents of Bassi Pathana are planning to meet Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and apprise him regarding the lack of basic amenities affecting them.

“For the past many years, people have been striving to live with the dearth of facilities. All successive governments have contested elections on the issue and have been making false promises,” said Manoj Kumar Banda, an area resident.

Another resident, Ravinder Joshi of Giljian Wala Mohalla, said despite tall claims nothing was being done to improve the condition of residents here.

Bassi Pathana has around 20,000 persons and most of the families, especially businessmen, have shifted their base to other areas during the past few years.

Bassi Pathana is an old riyasat that once boasted of the biggest treasury before independence and it still has old monuments and buildings, including the jail of Mughal Emperors. Its condition has deteriorated with the passage of time.

Once known as an epicentre of sewing machine manufactures, it saw exodus of this industry as its traders were not provided any facilities. With increasing import of goods from China and no help from the government, industrialists failed to continue and ultimately relocated to better places. There is no sewerage connection in any of the wards of town and people have dug septic tanks in their homes. These need to be cleaned up after every few years,” said Mahesh Kumar, another resident.

“Despite claims made by the District Administration to setup public toilets after banning manual scavenging, who had been cleaning night soil from houses and dumping it on the outskirts, nothing has been done in this regard,” said Jai Kishan.

He said it was a matter of shame for politicians, who claim of development by announcing grants, people here had to knock doors of the influential people to attend nature’s call.

Night soil could be seen littered around parks and drains and enters houses during rains. Residents said despite lack of facilities state government forced area residents to deposit house tax, which is much more than other towns where people enjoy basic facilities.

Also water bills charged were more as compared to other areas. Residents said they had submitted a similar memorandum to Chief Minister on January 8, 2009 at a Sangat Darshan program in Sirhind. However, no action was initiated despite repeated assurances by the Chief Minister himself.

Residents have also sought setting up of an IT park.

Fazilka, January 2
All business establishments, including chemist shops and petrol stations, of this border town will observe a complete bandh on January 5 when local BJP MLA Surjit Jiyani and the president of the SAD (Fazilka circle) will go on fast unto death to press the Punjab Government to accord district status to this subdivision.

Residents of this town and its surrounding areas and representatives of various employees, farmers, trade, industrial, business and members of the local Bar Association have been observing chain hunger strike since August 15, 2010, to put pressure on the SAD-BJP government to accept their demand of according district status to this town.

Though representatives of the Sanjha Morcha have held meetings with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal to get their demand accepted, they could not achieve the same. 

Nawanshahr, January 2
Gur Iqbal Kaur, PPCC member and wife of former Parliamentary Secretary, late Parkash Singh, distributed cheques amounting to Rs 3.62 lakh to the panchayats of Jafferpur, Ghakewal, Pallian Khurd, Jalwaha, Amargarh, Jabbowal, Soeta, Mujjafarpur, Mazara Kalan and Janiwal villages.

Meant to carry out various development works, the cheques were distributed here at her residence at Saloh village on Sunday.

The grant was released by former Rajya Sabha member Dharam Pal Sabharwal, out of his MPLAD fund.

Talking about husband, who passed away in the month of November last year after battling a prolonged disease, Kaur said despite being ill and out of power for the last three years, he remained dedicated to the development of his constituency.

He was instrumental in getting the development funds released out of the MPLAD funds of Dharam Pal Sabharwal.

The second installment of the development fund would also be released soon, she added. Besides, a grant of Rs 50,000, out of the MPLAD fund of Congress MP from Anandpur Sahib Ravneet Bittu was also given to Saloh village. District Congress President Kuldip Singh Rana, Angad Singh, Balbir Singh, sarpanch, Asmanpur and Bhuwandeep Sharda, among others, were present on the occasion. 

Zirakpur, January 2
Till about two decades ago, Zirakpur was just a cluster of villages on the outskirts of state capital Chandigarh. Today, it has become the unofficial 'wedding capital of Punjab' with nearly 55 wedding venues where hundreds of lavish marriages are held.

With the Punjabi weddings getting bigger and fatter by the day, the wedding resorts of Zirakpur town, which shares its boundary with Chandigarh and suburban town Panchkula in Haryana, are coming in handy for people to organise marriages depending on their financial and social status.

For the count, there are now nearly 55 wedding resorts, the re-christened version of 'marriage palaces', as they were earlier called, in and around Zirakpur town, around 15 km from Chandigarh. Between 800 and 900 weddings take place annually in these wedding resorts.

Spread in areas ranging from four to 10 acres, the wedding resorts offer ample space to accommodate marriages where the guest lists range from 1,000 to 15,000.

At least 10 more wedding resorts are likely to be readied by the end of 2011.

"Yes, Zirakpur has developed as a perfect and the biggest wedding destination in Punjab. Be the rich and the famous of Chandigarh and Punjab or the NRIs, Zirakpur's wedding resorts are the first choice of most big weddings in Punjab," Dharminder Sharma, director of a real estate development company and owner of the Sharma farmhouse and wedding resort, told IANS here.

The town, over the years, seems to have benefited from the fact that Chandigarh, the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana, does not have the facility of any big banquet hall in any of the hotels in the city. At best, Chandigarh's hotels can accommodate up to 1,000 people, making them unviable for bigger Punjabi weddings.

“Chandigarh does not have a proper banquet hall to accommodate bigger weddings, especially those with large-scale themes. The planners have not even kept any space for a big venue to hold weddings. The wedding resorts at Zirakpur are the best alternative," Chandigarh hotelier Vikram Wadhwa told IANS.

The wedding resorts not only offer hall or space for the weddings but also a host of other facilities like landscaped greens, scope for theme events, rooms and other things. Booking space at the wedding resorts for a single day can mean anything from Rs 50,000 to Rs 3,00,000.

Nearly six big hotel chains are setting up their properties in Zirakpur town to cash in on the rush of weddings here. Most of these hotels will be ready this year. Till now, families hosting weddings had to rely on hotels in Chandigarh to accommodate guests as Zirakpur did not have adequate, good hotels.

Though the wedding resorts have brought unmatched prosperity to this town, not everyone is happy.

“Every wedding here, especially along the Chandigarh-Ambala and the Chandigarh-Patiala highways, leads to traffic chaos and jams. Since weddings keep taking place all the time, crossing Zirakpur is a nightmare, especially during full wedding season when several marriages take place on the same days,” banker SC Dhall said.

Affluent people and NRIs prefer to have grandiose weddings at these resorts based on themes.

“The themes can range from Egyptian to Roman settings. We offer services depending on the kind of budget one has for the wedding theme. Since most wedding resorts in Zirakpur are big enough, there is ample scope to plan theme weddings at the venues," leading theme wedding planner Karan Wahi told IANS. Weddings sets can cost from Rs 20 lakh to over Rs 1 crore. — IANS 

Patiala, January 2
Despite clear guidelines by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) regarding the proper use of the National Emblem, various government departments are still violating norms by not using the prescribed format.

Government departments across the country were asked to use “Satyameva Jayate” (Truth alone triumphs) written in Devanagri below the profile of the Lion Capital in the stamped official seal or it would be considered incomplete and amount to the violation of rules and laws.

Perturbed at the incomplete use of the National Emblem, which is also the official seal of the Government of India, the MHA had asked officers at various government headquarters to issue suitable instructions for compliance with the orders.

According to information collected by TNS, many departments are still not following instructions and using the incomplete logo. “We are not aware of any such instructions. Since we have been using the official stamp like this for many years, no instructions have been passed to us by senior officers,” said a policeman.

Interestingly, many PPS officers, who are supposed to use this emblem on their shoulder badge, are also not following the prescribed format. “I don’t think it is wrong,” said a DSP-level officer.

In a communiqué issued to various government agencies, state governments and UT administrations some time ago, the MHA had made it clear that since the National Emblem is an adaptation from the Sarnath Lion Capital showing three lions on the abacus with Dharma Chakras in the centre, a bull on the right and the galloping horse on the left and outlines of Dharma Chakras on the extreme right and left with the motto “Satyameva Jayate” written in Devanagri below the profile of the Lion Capital, it should be used in the complete format.

The communiqué further warns that the incomplete display of the aforesaid is the violation of the State Emblem of India (Prohibition of Improper Use) Act 2005 and State Emblem of India (Regulation of Use) Rules 2007.