Mohali, January 13
Punjab Director-General of Police (DGP) PS Gill today introduced e-challan, a pilot project, to issue electronically generated receipts for traffic violations on the spot with the help of a hand-held GPRS-enabled device in Mohali district. After Mohali, the facility is being introduced in Amritsar and Jalandhar.

Ten such devices were handed over to officials of the traffic wing of the Mohali police at a function held here today. The GPRS-enabled devices linked with a central server give the traffic cops access to the centralised database on stolen vehicles and details of traffic violators. “We hope to connect traffic wings in all districts of Punjab with the central server,” said the DGP.

One copy of the electronically generated challan receipt will be given to the violators and the other one would be sent to the District Transport Officer. In the case of some offences, the amount for the violation could be accepted on the spot.

“The hand-held device can also retrieve the driving licence history, if it involves previous violations and hence can charge the fine amount accordingly. The e-challan application is comprehensive where citizen can log in to get an update and information reference to their driving licence violations,” said the DGP. A total of 40 GPRS-enabled e-challan devices have been handed over to the police officers, with 10 sets allocated to Mohali district.

This enables policeman to issue challans and collect fine by issuing receipts on the spot in compoundable cases and in the case of non-compoundable cases, the violator will be given the date and time to appear in the court. Also, it provides information regarding stolen vehicles. The DGP said on January 5, e-beat and e-investigation system had also been launched in the three commissionorates of Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar and Mohali district on a pilot basis.

Chandigarh, January 13
The Punjab Government has extended the term of the Punjab Governance Reforms Commission by one year, as its term had expired on January 8.

In the past two years, the commission has submitted three reports for improving the functioning of various departments and governance.

The chairperson of the commission, Dr Parmod Kumar, told TNS that the commission would soon submit three more reports that would cover reforms in the labour and economic fields.

The prime objective of the commission is to recommend ways to streamline the functioning of public dealing by suggesting ways and to reduce procedure and minimise physical interaction between people and government departments that ensure citizen-friendly services.

The commission has also been assigned the task of suggesting ways to check drug addiction and caste-based social assertion.

After commenting on the state of affairs in Punjab in its first report, the commission deliberated on fiscal management, citizen services, social security schemes, police station reforms and institutional framework for the delivery of services in its second report.

In the third report, which had been recently submitted, the commission has provided a framework for citizens’ interaction with the government.

Parmod Kumar said the commission was ready with more reports that would deal with the issue of reforms in areas of urban development, physical security, safety and justice, social security and welfare schemes.

The recommendations of the commission had been well-received by the state government. To ensure accountability, the state government has indicated bringing in of a legislation ensuring 50 services to “aam admi” as a right. These services area spread over the Departments of Revenue, Electricity, Police, Food and Civil Supplies, Health, Transport, etc.

The commission has already recommended several improvements in the healthcare sector. It has also recommended that private healthcare be brought under the government’s control.

Another crucial recommendation of the commission under the consideration of the government is to formulate a Food Regulation Act and the setting up of a state-level advisory committee to end confusion over the jurisdiction of the Health Department and the municipalities to inspect the quality of food.

The government has also accepted the recommendations of the commission to set up a wide network of community-policing centres.

Badal (Muktsar), January 13
Work on the civil terminal of Bathinda airport will begin next month when Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel lays the foundation stone of the complex.

Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal told TNS here today that the foundation stone laying ceremony had been fixed for February 20 and commercial flights were expected to operate from there in October.

This is considered one of the prestigious projects taken in hand during the present SAD-BJP combine government to provide air connectivity to the Bathinda area that has become the hub of industrial and commercial activity.

The airport is coming up in the Air Force Station at Bisiana and the Airports Authority of India will construct the infrastructure of the civil terminal. Permission to build the civil airport was granted last year by the Centre.

Sukhbir Singh said the state government had paid compensation of Rs 3.55 crore for acquiring private land for constructing the terminal.

Initially, two domestic flights were expected to operate from Bathinda. He said a mini-airport had been cleared for Talwandi Sabo around where the refinery and a couple of thermal power projects were coming up. The airport would help top executives of industrial units to fly to Delhi and Chandigarh.

Sukhbir Singh said besides the Rs 20,000 crore refinery, three super critical thermal power projects were coming up in Mansa and Muktsar districts. He said the road network was also being improved and the roads linking Bathinda with Chandigarh and other important places were being widened.

Muktsar, January 13
This historic town of Muktsar is all set for the grand political showdown tomorrow as different parties are making all out efforts to outnumber each other in their respective political conferences.

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal flew to Badal village this afternoon to put in his efforts to make the public meeting of the SAD a grand success. Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal is already camping in his native village for the past two days.

The PPCC chief, Capt Amarinder Singh, is banking on the feud within the Badal family triggered off due to Manpreet Badal’s ouster from the ministry and the SAD. Manpreet is holding his political conference separately for which space has been allotted to him just near the SAD’s pandal.

Sukhbir is expecting a large number of people from the Gidderbaha Assembly constituency to come out in his support and participate at the SAD’s rally. Gidderbaha is represented by Manpreet in the Assembly.

Manpreet supporters are also upbeat and are expected to put up a massive gathering to give a befitting reply to the SAD. The SAD has been making efforts to regain its lost ground in the politically important Malwa belt that has always been a problem for the Congress except for the last Assembly poll when Amarinder’s clout carried well and the party scored maximum number of seats from the region. However, the Congress failed to repeat the performance in the Lok Sabha poll.

With the earlier sidelined Amarinder Singh now occupying the centre-stage in the Congress, his supporters are making all out efforts to make the party’s rally a grand show.

All said and done, Parkash Singh Badal remains the senior most and an ace politician among all whether from the SAD or the Congress. With his age and experience on one side and energetic Sukhbir on the other, their combination cannot be overlooked or underestimated. It is not only that Manpreet is not with them, but he is also against them which makes it a cause of extra concern for the father-son duo.

Chandigarh, January 13
The Pushpa Gujral Science City will witness a further expansion this year with the addition of new attractions, including a panorama on “Life Through the Ages” as well as galleries on emerging areas like genetic engineering and cybernetics.

Addressing a press conference here, the science city Director-General, Dr RS Khandpur, said visitors would be able to experience low-gravity environment as well as simulation of the “Big Bang” in exhibits, which were in the offing.

He said a Rs 30-crore project proposal had been submitted to the Centre for installing three big attractions this year. He said this included a panorama on “Life Through the Ages”, which would provide an insight on how the earth evolved besides illustrating the Big Bang theory, unicellular animals, dinosaurs and prehistoric man.

The science city is also going in for a gallery on Science of Sports, which will be opened to the public in March this year. The gallery will display the role played by science in the sports field. Another important gallery being set up includes the Climate Change Object Theatre. This will outline the serious and contemporary challenge of climate change and discuss the causes and impact of global warming, with special reference to the Indian sub-continent.

Dr Khandpur said the Ministry of Railways was setting up a railway gallery in the science city. The highlights of the gallery would be working models of Bullet Train, Delhi Metro, Kalka-Shimla and Jammu-Srinagar railway line, which have already been set up. Meanwhile, Secretary, Science and Technology, Visvajit Khanna, said the city received 3.50 lakh visitors from April to December last year.

Patiala, January 13
The Punjab Sports Department has decided to dole out a major portion of its finances for infrastructure in the Malwa region. Bathinda will have three astroturfs besides a synthetic athletics track. One more astroturf surface is to come up at Mohali.

Sources say, “The government has decided to lay three hockey turfs in the Malwa belt alone besides a synthetic athletic track.”

According to a recent advertisement by Punjab Sports Department and Punjab State Sports Council, an Expression of Interest (EOI) has been floated that invites global firms to lay synthetic hockey surface and synthetic athletics track along with a drainage and sprinkling system.

Astroturf surfaces will be laid at Government Rajindra College, Bathinda, Sports School, Ghudda village in Bathinda, Government Barjindera College, Faridkot, and Sports Complex, Mohali. An athletics track will also be built at Sports School, Ghudda village. The entire project will cost the government an estimated Rs 25 crore, a senior official said. “We hope to complete the work by August and the EOI is already out,” added an official.

Denying any political considerations behind the proposal, Director Sports, Punjab, Pargat Singh said, “We are already working to improve the infrastructure in Ludhiana and Amritsar.”

Amritsar, January 13
In a unique initiative, the Sikh community in England is planning to build what it terms as the world's first dedicated Sikh memorial in Derby to represent millions of Sikhs who died in five holocausts, 1984 riots and both World Wars.

A brainchild of National Sikh Heritage Centre and Holocaust Museum (NSHCHM), Derby, the memorial will come up at a cost of 1 million pound. The museum authorities have sought permission for planning for the memorial which has been named as National Sikh Holocaust and Shaheedi Memorial. According to Harbhajan Singh Dahia, general secretary, Board of Trustees, NSHCHM, the 7.2-metre high, 13-metre wide memorial will be constructed near the National Sikh Heritage Centre in Derby, where a museum dedicated to Sikh culture opened a couple of years ago.

The memorial has a unique design concept. Dahia said, "The memorial will be made of white stone, white granite, black granite and sandstone. People will enter the memorial through a fully lit, ornate archway which will signify the victory of Sikhs. There will be eight steps up to a water feature with each of them signifying invasions on Sri Harmandar Sahib (Golden Temple). There will be a traditional Punjabi chhatri style structure with six black pillars, each of them signifying the holocaust attempt and on each pillar key episodes of that bid will be highlighted. The chhatri will be made of black stone. There will also be a white chhatri with five pillars, each of them signifying five Ks -- the articles of faith. At the centre of the chhatri will be a water feature and a sign of Ek Onkar.”

Gurmel Singh, one of the volunteers, who helped set up the museum, says that funding for the one million pound memorial will come entirely from charitable donations from the Sikh community, locally and nationally. 

Chandigarh, January 13
Upjit Singh Sachdeva (44) is not only a successful businessman but is also credited for taking up the issues faced by the overseas Indian community in Africa in general and Liberia in particular. He is the only NRI from Punjab to be felicitated by the President Pratibha Patel on the last day of the Parvasi Bharati Divas 2011 last week.

He is also the Honorary Consul-General of India in Monrovia for more than 15 years now.

Born and brought up in Jalandhar, Upjit Singh Sachdeva, Jeety to his friends, moved to Liberia in the early 90s. A graduate from Guru Nanak Dev University, Upjit Singh Sachdeva, has been actively involved in community service ever since his migration to Africa. He has been associated with various social, cultural and charitable organisations.

Upjit Singh Sachdeva is also the chairman of the Gurdwara Management Committee at Coconut Plantation, Monrovia. He also remained interim-President of the Association of Indian communities in Liberia. “There are about 1000 Indian families in Liberia,” he says.

He was also nominated as a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Liberia, thus becoming the first ever Indian to serve this prestigious state-owned institutions of higher learning and is appointed by the President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

He also remained as President of the Liberia Woods Services Corporation in March last year, the Muslim community of Liberia also felicitated Sachdeva with the ‘Philanthropist of the Year’ award.

His efforts to strengthen unilateral relations between India and Liberia have been recognised at various platforms as is evident from the many letters of appreciation from the various ministries of the Government of India, besides senior functionaries of the Ministry of External Affairs as well as Ministry of Overseas Indians.

Sachdeva is the natural host for “misguided Indian youth, who while looking for green pastures in Europe and North America, stray into Africa.”

“My efforts have been to get these misguided youth back to India,” he says, recalling several incidents where his intervention saved many Indian youth from being charged for criminal trespass into Liberia.

His efforts to get some of Indian soldiers released from ultras, too, were lauded by the Union Government. He has also been honoured for his family avocation-trading in hardware-as the ‘Businessman of the Year’ a couple of times in Monrovia and also by the national bodies of Liberia.

Patiala, January 13
The Patiala Police returned valuables recovered from various accused at a function at the police lines yesterday. Patiala IG Paramjit Singh Gill presided over the function where valuables and cash worth over Rs 2.5 crore was returned. It was a happy moment for Mohali resident Pal Singh, who got back Rs 29.8 lakh, which he was duped of. Many residents were also returned their money, vehicles and belongings recovered by the District police.

Inspector-General PS Gill, said the police would dispose off unclaimed belongings, which remain in police stations. “A proposal is already in the pipeline. This will make the role of the police easy,” he said.

Organised following an initiative of the state government that asked all districts should follow the same pattern, this was the second such function to be organised by the Patiala police. Last year, many residents were returned their valuables and the Punjab Deputy Chief Minister had attended that function. SSP Patiala, Gurpreet Singh Gill said the city police was doing a good job and in the past one year. The DIG of Patiala, Jatinder Jain, was also present at the function.

Patiala, January 13
Makers of the famous Punjabi jutti have locked horns with the Punjab Excise and Taxation Department. The department has decided make Value Added Tax (VAT) essential on the jutti and other products. However, following resentment on the decision of the department, the jutti makers have been staging a dharna from the past three days. They have also closed their shops in protest. The state government, in its recent orders, had given respite to the oldest tradition of Punjab and decided to abolish VAT on the jutti. . Earlier the tax was 4 percent.

The jutti holds a symbolic meaning with the Punjabi attire. On Tuesday, the excise officials confiscated a truckload of jutti. Upon further, the officials found some other footwear inside it, following which the items were seized. Owners of the truck and the excise officials failed to come to any conclusion on the matter.

“Since juttis hold traditional significance, we need to make efforts to ensure the art does not die out. There are only a few families who promote the tradition. Due to the taxes, the jutti makers are leaving this profession,” a jutti maker said.

“We are being hounded by the excise officials. We will not open our shops till our demands are not accepted,” they claimed. The Jeengar Rajasthani households, have spent generations making juttis, are unhappy following this move. Approximately 300 exclusive Rajasthani households are instrumental for the creating the niche for the jutti.

“ Making juttis is our profession. We are training our children into the art and they are only acquiring elementary education. They know nothing else and are left with no option but to carry on with the family profession,” demanded the jutti makers. The jutti makers urged the trade to be left free from government control.

Meanwhile, AETC (mobile wing) of Patiala, SS Bangrah said the government had abolished tax only on hand made Pujabi juttis. However, talks are on with the agitating members.

Rajpura, January 13
Mohali based parents of teenage boy, who was killed in an accident last September in Rajpura, have alleged that their son, along with another student of Thapar University, Patiala, were murdered by his colleague. Two students of the university died in a car crash on the Rajpura-Patiala road and two others, travelling in same vehicle survived.

In his complaint to the DGP, Gurbax Singh Bains alleged that his 21 year-old-son, Gagandeep Singh, was admitted in the MBA department of the university and used to stay in a hostel. The fateful car, which collided with a stationary truck, was being driven at a high speed by one of his son’s friend, Zorawar Singh, son of Patiala SDM, Gurmit Singh.

Zorawar along with his friends, Gagandeep, Jaskaran Singh and Gaurav Verma, were travelling in the car. While Zorawar and Jaskaran escaped unhurt with minor injuries, Gagandeep and Gaurav died. Gagan’s father Gurbax said Zorawar’s posts on the social networking site, facebook, revealed that the accident was planned.

“Moreover statements of both survivors do not match. I have recording of all statements and have submitted them to the DGP,” Gurbax said. He pointed out that one survivor said all four occupants of car had dinner at Haveli Restaurant, Sirhind, while another said they stopped to have dinner at Eagle Motel in Rajpura. “We also have, on record, the boys stating that they were in an inebriated condition. The fateful care had a red beacon light installed on it,” he added.

Demanding a thorough probe, Gurbax said police had recorded wrong statements of survivors. Gaurav’s parents too are reaching in next couple of days to record their statements, he added. Meanwhile Patiala SDM Gurmit Singh refuted all allegations. He all senior functionaries of Rajpura had reached the spot immediately and there was no truth in the allegations.

Chandigarh, January 13
Refusing to close its eyes to the ailing cancer cure facilities in Punjab’s Malwa belt, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has taken suo motu cognisance of a review carried in “Sunday Extra” of The Tribune. Underscoring the sorry state of affairs, Justice Ranjit Singh has quoted the contents of the column to say: “In a state where Rs 5 crore is spent on the medical treatment of a ruling family, as reported in the news item, there is a dire need for the government to wake up and do something for the needy public in the area”.

The suo motu notice case was placed before the Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Augustine George Masih this morning.

Justice Ranjit Singh added: Sad it will be to notice that government has not done anything to make a provision for affordable medical facilities, forcing people from the region to travel to Bikaner in a train named as cancer express.

Going into the background of the matter, Justice Ranjit Singh asserted: Reading a news item regarding cancer picture in Malwa region of Punjab is cause of serious concern. The author writing the column, Punjabi Antenna, in the Sunday Extra of The Tribune dated October 23, 2010, has made reference to a well documented report presented by Day and Night TV channel under caption Cancer da kehar.

As per the report, affected families of the Malwa region have been made to sell land and belongings to save their children from cancer. It is distressing to notice that some people have abandoned their afflicted relations and have pushed sick women out of their in-laws’ home for becoming a financial burden.

Justice Ranjit Singh added: “Some private hospitals, which are coming up, would be no substitute or solace to the poor people suffering from this wrath of nature”.

The assertion assumes significance as Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had only recently claimed that the malady would largely be taken care of with the coming up of private hospitals.

In the two-page note, Justice Ranjit Singh concluded: As per the reports, ailment has acquired epidemic proportions and about 10,000 cancer-related deaths have been reported….

“Taking suo motu notice of the details reported in the news item, I deem it appropriate to put the state government to notice to explain as to what is being done to attend to the needs of the cancer-related patients in the Malwa region and what action is in hand to remedy the situation as alarming as appearing.”