Teh Kalander (Ferozepur), January 15
Yet another collision at an unmanned railway crossing snuffed out four young lives early on Saturday morning near this village close to Fazilka town. Punjab government has announced Rs one lac grant to next kin of deceased.

All the four children, aged between four and eight years, were on their way to school in a ‘covered’ three-wheler, which broke down in the middle of the track. The driver of the ill-fated auto-rickshaw, who fled the scene of the accident and got himself admitted to the hospital, claimed that he had got down from the auto-rickshaw and was trying to push the three-wheeler forward when the Ferozepur-Rewari passenger train appeared out of nowhere and , before he could collect his wits, hit the auto-rickshaw and flung him sideways.

The Railways, which constituted a probe panel and called for the inquiry report within the next ten days, claimed that because of dense fog and low visibility, the train was being driven at slow speed and that the driver had also blown the whistle to alert people.

The unfortunate children, however, were trapped inside the auto-rickshaw, with flaps obscuring their view of the train. They were killed within seconds as the train dragged the vehicles for 250 metres before stopping.

Amandeep ( 5) and Babbaldeep ( 8), son and daughter respectively of Raj Kumar and Saurav ( 4) and Renu ( 6), son and daughter of Vijay Kumar, were also related to each other as their fathers happened to be cousins. They left behind no sibling.

School bags and tiffin boxes lay scattered at the site, mute witnesses of the tragedy, long after the accident. The dead bodies were taken to the civil hospital for the post-mortem and the train was allowed to leave for its destination a few hours later.

A pall of gloom descended over the area and hundreds of people with moist eyes attended the funeral procession, marked by wailing of women and sobs from the menfolk. While the procession was largely silent, there was anger against the auto-rickshaw driver, who, people felt, could have avoided the tragedy. A case under section 304 of the IPC was registered against the driver at Abohar. They were also angry at the school, which, they felt, should have made arrangements to pick up the students.

Nirbhai Singh, sarpanch of the village, blamed the unusually high elevation of the railway track for the accident. The approach to the unmanned crossing, he said, is so steep that vehicles often found it difficult to negotiate. The drivers also cannot see trains approaching from the road, he pointed out. Several representations had been made to the Railways in the past but to no avail, he added.

Villagers pointed out that the Ferozepur division seemed to have the highest number of unmanned crossings and the highest number of accidents too. Official sources confirmed that the last few years have witnessed nearly 30 accidents in the Division, which claimed around 70 lives.

Vishwesh Choubey, Divisional Railway Manager, Ferozepur, said that people were being educated to take precautions while crossing unmanned level crossings and counselling camps were being held in schools and villages located near the rail tracks. 

Chandigarh, January 15
The chest-thumping by political leaders, which began yesterday at Muktsar, continued on Saturday with both the major parties claiming to have scored over the other. While the crowds drawn at the Maghi Mela are no indication of popular support, the hangover from the Mela was not entirely lost on the day after.

While Sukhbir Badal continued lambasting ‘negative politics’ of Capt Amarinder Singh and the ‘anti-subsidy tirade’ of Manpreet Badal, the state Congress chief launched a vitriolic attack on Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

Referring to the CM’s public address at the Maghi Mela yesterday, the Captain today acknowledged that the senior Badal is a ‘Master’ at theatrics “ who can act the clown and the tragedy king at the same time”. He was referring to Senior Badal wiping his tears during his address. “ But within minutes he was laughing and cracking jokes,” the Captain recalled while trashing the senior Badal’s claim that he had sacrificed his family for the party. “On the contrary, he has actually sacrificed the party for his family,” he commented.

While appreciating the CM’s candid admission that his son and daughter-in-law do occupy positions of authority and power, the Congress chief pointed out that the CM had left out several other members of his family who also hold positions of authority”.

The state Congress president had yesterday lashed out at Manpreet Badal as well and accused him of having been ‘hands-in-gloves’ with the Badals in encouraging corruption and in unleashing politics of vendetta. The public criticism of Manpreet by both SAD and Congress leaders is being interpreted as an indication that both the parties are getting increasingly worried about his nuisance value and ability to make dents into their vote-banks. In fact, both the SAD and the Congress camps are surprised at the huge crowds drawn by Manpreet Badal.

While the show put up by SAD was by far the most impressive, within the ranks of the party there is acknowledgment that an out-of-power Manpreet Badal had drawn unexpectedly large crowds to his rally, his first at the Maghi mela.

While the Congress did manage to organise a better show than in previous years, it did not compare favourably with the other two. Congress leaders sought to explain it away by saying, “For the Akalis and Manpreet it was a do or die situation, but for the Congress it was a routine political conference.” The absence of some Congress leaders from the area did not go unnoticed though.

Amritsar, January 15
Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), a New York-based human rights advocacy group which is spearheading the justice campaign for the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, today announced that a “motion to debate the issue of Sikh genocide” will be filed in the Canadian Parliament through which a debate will be sought in the House to challenge the Canadian Government’s response to the “Sikh genocide petition”.

Talking to The Tribune on the phone from the US, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, legal adviser to the SFJ, said, “The Canadian Government’s response to the Sikh genocide petition is full of legal and factual errors. The Sikh community is going to challenge this response in the Canadian Parliament by filing a ‘motion to debate the issue of Sikh genocide’ through which we will present to the House evidence, documents and witnesses to substantiate the claim that the massacre of Sikhs in November 1984 was an act of genocide as defined under Article 2 of the UN Convention on Genocide.” He said they would get 50,000 signatures in support of the motion for debate on the genocide issue, adding that help from Canadian MPs like Sukh Dhaliwal will also be sought for the purpose.

He alleged that the Government of Canada’s response to the Sikh genocide petition was in “breach of its obligations” under the UN Convention on Genocide, Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes Act of Canada, all of which required Canada to recognise the killings like that of November 1984 as “genocide” and to take all necessary actions to prevent and prosecute the crime of genocide.

SFJ coordinator Jatinder Singh Grewal dubbed the Candian Government’s response as “merely an attempt to appease India because of the latter’s mighty economic status”. According to him, such an attitude and behaviour of the Canadian Government on an issue of human rights is “not only discouraging for the victims of November 1984 but is also contemptuous to the brave Canadian men and women who are serving in Afghanistan to promote the Canadian legacy of human rights for all”.

In June 2010, a petition signed by more than 10,000 Canadians asking the Canadian Government to recognise the Sikh massacre of November 1984 as “genocide”, was presented in the Canadian Parliament. However, the Canadian Government had rejected the petition.

Jalandhar, January 15
Various social and religious organisations here today organised an “insaf march” to seek justice for the families of those killed in 1984 in Delhi.

The march had been organised so that the Supreme Court could take suo motu action in this case. Holding black flags and placards, various affected families and members of religious organisation assembled at Company Bagh and held the march till Guru Nanak Mission Chowk.

Lead by SGPC member Kulwant Singh Manan and SAD (Urban) president Gurcharan Singh Channi, the protesters signed 300 letters to the Chief Justice of India.

In the letters, they alleged that “anti-social elements” with the connivance of the Centre and leaders of various political parties had killed 2,990 persons belonging to the Sikh community. Interestingly, the police registered only a few cases in this regard and only 10 cases were decided while many were pending even after 26 years, they added. Though efforts have been made by the community and lawyers to fight the cases in courts, only a handful of convictions have taken place while the main culprits are roaming free.

“In the recent years, we have seen that the apex court has reopened many cases including, the Jessica and Priyadarshni Mattoo cases, but the massacre of Sikhs has failed to draw the attention of the SC,” they added.

Takhtupura (Moga), January 15
President of the ruling SAD and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal has asked his party cadre to rise above petty faction feuds and go out to the masses at the grassroots level highlighting the development works of the government in the run-up to the state Assembly elections due in February next year.

He was addressing a public gathering on the eve of the Maghi mela at Takhtupura in Moga district this afternoon.

Lashing out at former Chief Minister and PPCC President Amarinder Singh and former Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal, he rejected the “negative” propaganda of the “Maharaja” and the anti-subsidy tirade of his cousin.

Claiming that the united SAD was fully prepared to secure the largest-ever mandate in the coming Vidhan Sabha elections based on its development agenda, he said infighting in the Congress was at a high these days due to which its leaders were losing base among the public.

Sukhbir Badal said Amarinder Singh had failed to appoint the office-bearers and set up his party executive even after three months of his nomination to the PPCC President’s post due to infighting in the Congress.

While criticising the Congress-led UPA government for discriminating against Punjab, he said it was ironical that the Congress in the state had become a mute spectator to all such discrimination.

The SAD chief said a state contributing 70 per cent to the national foodgrain pool got only 1 per cent of the national agriculture debt waiver fund and the state unit of the Congress had not spoken even a single word on this issue.

Speaking on the development initiatives of the SAD-BJP regime, Sukhbir Badal claimed that his government had initiated development and infrastructure works with investments to the tune of more than Rs 1,00,000 crore, which included the Bathinda refinery, six thermal plants, roads and bridges, besides other development works at the village level. He said his government had provided more than 60,000 jobs, including 35,000 in the Education Department and 11,000 in the police.

On administrative reforms, he said the computerisation of land records and effecting the required amendments to the revenue acts had almost been completed, which would reduce civil petitions in courts. 

Takhtupura (Moga), Jan 15
President of the PPCC and former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, Leader of the Opposition in the Vidhan Sabha Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, local stalwart Jagmeet Singh Brar and other senior leaders of the Congress failed to turn up at the party rally on the eve of the Maghi mela in Takhtupura village in Moga district today.

As such, the turnout at the rally was much less than the expectations of political observers, probably due to the absence of senior leaders. Even organiser of the rally Tej Partap Singh did not attend the rally. For face saving, a former Minister, Chaudhary Jagjit Singh, presided over the rally.

While addressing the gathering, he lashed out at the SAD-BJP government for putting the state under huge debt, rise in crime, growing unemployment and degradation of the education system in the state.

He alleged that public money meant for creating infrastructure in the state was being misused by the state government to woo voters in certain pockets of the state only.

The former minister said people were now fed up with the state government, which had failed on all fronts, and, were looking for change. “A change in government after the Assembly elections is imminent”, he claimed.

He said Manpreet Badal’s ouster from the Cabinet and the SAD was an indication of growing factionalism in the ruling party. “The BJP leadership is also not on good terms with its coalition partner, going by internal reports”, he said.

Congress MLAs Joginder Pal Jain, Darshan Singh Brar, Ajit Singh Shant and former MLA Vijay Sathi also had a dig at the state government and appealed to the people to put up a united front to bring about a change in government in the coming elections.

Meanwhile, Amarinder Singh told The Tribune that as per the party schedule, he was not to attend the rally as he was busy in a social function out of the state today.

Ludhiana, January 15
The failure of the Department of Health and Family Welfare, Punjab, to give information about the selection criteria adopted for the ongoing recruitment process of 212 doctors has started a controversy.

The department was given the authority to "recruit" Punjab Civil Medical Service (PCMS) doctors in the state.The Cabinet had approved the proposal given by the Health Department to recruit the doctors as the Punjab Vigilance Bureau had initiated an investigating into the case of 314 doctors appointed by the PPSC in 2010.

Rohit Sabharwal, president of a Ludhiana- based NGO, the Anti-Corruption and Crime Investigation Cell, had sought from the Department of Health and Family Welfare on August 27, 2010, a detailed record of the certificates of the 212 applicants, shortlisted from the list of persons who had applied against the posts advertised in 2010.

The NGO had demanded the details following complaints forwarded by some MBBS doctors who had alleged the department had

adopted "corrupt practices" to recruit persons against the 212 vacant posts of PCMS doctor in various districts.

It is alleged that some doctors have submitted fake certificates to apply under the "sports", "ex-servicemen" and "handicapped" quotas and the Health Department, despite its tall claims of adopting "foolproof measures," has failed to check the authenticity of certificates.

Instead of providing details to the NGO under the RTI, the department authorities resorted to dilly-dallying tactics. As a result, the NGO gave a complaint to the RTI Commission on October 7 and sent a reminder to the department on October 27 but to no avail.

Thereafter, the NGO sent a second appeal to the RTI Commission in November and the commission, in turn, called the Director, Health Services, and the Principal Secretary, Health, for a hearing on December 21.

The Health Department was unable to provide the information.The RTI Commissioner concerned issued a show- cause notice to the department asking the authorities to come for the hearing on January 18. The department has also been asked to submit the records demanded by the NGO along with the "compensation amount" for delayed information.

Principal Secretary, Health, Satish Chandra said he was on leave and did not know why the department had refused to give the information."I will be back on Monday and will make sure that the information demanded is given to the NGO," said Satish Chandra.

Jalandhar, January 15
Farmers’ organisations have alleged that the Centre is playing into the hands of influential classes and causing harm to farmers in the process.

They said a ban on the export of certain items related to farm produce clearly indicated that the Union Government had “succumbed to pressure built by influential classes”.

BKU president Balbir Singh Rajewal said following a hue and cry raised by “influential classes”, the Union Government banned the export of onions which were produced by farmers. “In fact, the government has started importing onions to bring down prices, which will ultimately hit the farm community engaged in the production of onions in various parts of the country,” he added.

Rajewal said “influential classes” had never shown concern about rising prices of various inputs on which farmers had to spend money to produce onions and other vegetables and crops.

He said many farmers had started growing vegetables to get rid of the traditional wheat-paddy rotation and in case the export of vegetables was stopped, it would harm the initiative taken by farmers to diversify in new areas.

President of the Northern Cotton Growers Association Ikkattar Singh Jida said the Centre had put a ceiling on the export of cotton “under pressure from the powerful textile lobby”. Such a ceiling on export had farmers hard, he added.

Patiala, January 15
The Punjab Government is yet to simplify the procedure to acquire licences for the hunting of wild boars. Farmers in the state have complained about the damage caused to the pulse and sugarcane crops due to wild boars.

Farmers say the procedure allowing only selective culling is a complex one and there has been no change in the government notification, which allows the hunting of Sus Scrofa (wild boars), since December 2009.

A notification by the Punjab Government in 2009 had allowed the hunting of Sus Scrofa for self-consumption.

The Punjab Wildlife Advisory Board would take up the issue with the Punjab Chief Minister soon, a senior official said.

Patiala-based hunter Balraj Singh Ghuman said the procedure to procure a licence from the SDM was tough and the panchayats first approached the SDM and then the hunters. “The animal causes more loss than what it consumes and poor farmers are ill-equipped to hunt themselves,” he added.

According to a letter issued by the Department of Forests and Wildlife Preservation, the hunting of wild boars would be allowed in 13 towns falling in six districts of Punjab.

The notification allows culling in areas of Mukerian, Dasuya and Garshankar in Hoshiarpur, Balachaur in Nawanshahr, Dhar, Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur, Ropar, Anandpur Sahib and Kharar in Ropar, Ajnala, Tarn Taran, Patti in Amritsar and in Ludhiana.

Former member the Punjab Wildlife Advisory Board Harditt Singh Sidhu said poor farmers suffered loss to their crops due to the animal.

“Getting a permit for shooting wild boars should be made easier as the hunter spends thousands per kill and deserves the backing of the government,” he added.

According to the notification wherever any panchayat feels that wild boars have become dangerous to human life or property, it may pass a resolution recommending the hunting of such animal.

Admitting that the present procedure is tough, Chief Wildlife Warden, Punjab, Gurbaj Singh, said only SDMs were authorised to issue permits. The Punjab Wildlife Advisory Board is going to take up the matter with the Punjab Chief Minister at its next meeting,” he added.

Punjab Minister for Forest and Environment Tikshan Sud said the process of killing boars had been already been simplified by allowing the killing of both males and females. “However, certain procedures have to be followed in this regard, as the government cannot allow the hunting of boars,” Sud said. 

Rajpura, January 15
Gurbax Singh Bains, father of the youth killed in an accident that took place here last September, has alleged threat to his life. Gagandeep’s father said he had written to Punjab DGP and submitted all documents, including voice recordings, photographs and chatting records of accused on social networking site Facebook.

Gagandeep Singh and Gaurav Verma, a resident of Delhi, were killed in an accident while Zorawar Singh, son of Patiala SDM Gurmit Singh, and Jaskaran Singh escaped unhurt with minor injuries in the accident involving a Ford Endeavour car with a red beacon atop. In his complaint to the DGP, Gurbax has stated that his son spent the weekend with him at Mohali and left for Patiala on September 27.

Later, Gurbax got a call from the Rajpura police that his son was killed in a car accident. “I was informed that a Ford Endeavour driven by Zorawar Singh was involved in an accident with a truck. A case was registered and friends of Gagandeep were let off without questioning,” he said.

While reconstructing the entire accident, the family members realised that friends of Gagandeep had given contradictory statements. It was also found that Gagandeep’s body was lying beneath the damaged vehicle. Also, bodies of both boys did not bear any accidental injuries except head injuries. There were also no blood marks on car seats. Only the upper portion of the car was damaged while the seats were intact. It was also found that Zorawar had been chatting with his about formation of a gang to kill someone he was jealous of. SDM Gurmit Singh and his son Zorawar Singh have already denied allegations levelled by Gurbax Singh.

DSP Rajpura Manmohan Sharma and City SHO Krishan Kumar Panthe said there was no truth in allegations levelled by Gurbax as the police had completed enquiry in this regard. Police officials said liquor bottles were recovered from the accidental vehicle, which was driven at a speed of more than 120 km per hour.

Nangal, January 15
Two sarus crane chicks have been spotted in the Swan rivulet that divides Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. The chicks, about three months old, have been sighted after three years.

Spotted by local bird watcher Prabhat Bhatti some days ago, the sighting is considered significant as the rivulet has become the north’s most recorded range of sarus crane breeding. Bird watcher Navjit Singh pointed out that the sarus crane is usually found in the Uttar Pradesh-Delhi-Punjab belt. The bird builds nests in open grounds, making its eggs vulnerable to attacks by predators.

“Owing to wide use of tractors for farming, the sarus crane has lost its nesting grounds in Punjab. In Uttar Pradesh, while ploughing fields, farmers leave the nesting grounds. We in Punjab do not care for the bird,” Navjit added.

Bird watchers say that it is difficult to ascertain the gender of birds. “Only after the birds mature and their plumage color changes, one can identify the genders,” said Bhatti.

It is pertinent to mention here that Swan rivulet actually had a wetland spread over Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. While Punjab’s side of wetland has been completely lost to illegal constructions and encroachments, some portion of Himachal Pradesh is still intact and is a thriving place for bird nesting. 10 to 20 years ago, bird watchers had recorded flock of 30 birds at the wetland site, which dwindled to 18 birds few years ago and this year there are hardly four pairs.

Buoyed over sighting of chicks, the bird watchers have decided to include Swan rivulet for its winter bird census of Nangal wetland to be held on January 21 and January 22.

Patiala, January 15
The Engineers working in the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) have reacted to the claims made by the PSPCL authorities that steps were being taken to prevent power theft in the state. Engineers have asserted that the efforts of the PSPCL would bring desired results only when special courts are set up for the speedy trial of the power theft cases.

HS Bedi, president of the PSEB Engineers Association, said one of the reasons for poor financial health of power utilities was the failure to eradicate the menace of theft of energy.

“In Gujarat, it is mandatory to lodge an FIR in case of theft of energy in the police stations and such cases are handled by special courts for speedy trails. No political pressure to bail out these culprits is entertained. Although, Punjab has set up electricity theft police stations but due to absence of special courts, the conviction rate is nil,” claimed Bedi.

Speaking to The Tribune, another power expert and chairman of the All-India Power Engineers Federation, Padamjit Singh, said, “ The Gujarat Governmentis exemplary as they have ensured that for theft of power case, an FIR is compulsory with stringent rules. But in Punjab, during election time politicians are known to make promises that if they are voted to power, they will ensure that there will be no checking against theft of power in their constituency.”

Padamjit, who is also former PSEB chief engineer, said, “In Punjab, influential politicians give verbal instructions that there should be minimum or no checking for theft of electricity in their constituency. By this populist measure, they give a free hand for theft of power.”

He said, vide a recent amendment, the Electricity Act 2003 was stringent on theft clauses. He said, “But these will remain on paper only, if the state government doesn’t adopt a serious approach towards this issue and politicians continue to patronise power thieves in order to garner votes for them.”