The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Amarinder’s warning to Badal SAD will have to pay for victimising Cong workers Bipin Bhardwaj/Ravinder Sud Hoshiarpur, January 17 Condemning vendetta politics of the SAD, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Capt Amarinder Singh said more than 30,000 Congressmen had been implicated in false cases and he would take erring officials to task if the Congress was voted to power. Addressing a public rally in local Roshan Ground, here today, he served a warning to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, saying, “Though I have no sense of vengeance towards you, I won’t leave those found guilty of victimising Congress workers.” “I don’t care what you do with me, but I will neither forget nor forgive what you and your people did with my party workers during the last four years,” declared the former Chief Minister. Replying to Badal’s statement, Amarinder said, “You have grown too old and seemed to have lost your memory. I was very much around and will always be here in spite of all your efforts.” “I remember that you after becoming the Chief Minister registered false criminal cases against me and then got me out of the Assembly. But I did not go anywhere and returned to the Assembly with the orders of the Supreme Court,” he said. He alleged that the ruling Badal government befooled the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) by seeking a loan of Rs 3,000 crore after presenting fake documents. “I have written to the RBI and sought that no loan be released to them as the government is not in a position to pay it back,” he said. Listing the failures of the current Akali-BJP regime, he said, every fifth person in Punjab was unemployed as out of 2.5-crore population, 25 lakh youths were unemployed. Because, he alleged, the Akalis did not do anything except for looting, robbing and victimising people. The former Chief Minister said during his tenure, he specifically motivated the Reliance Group to launch the ‘farm to fork’ project in Punjab. This, he said, would have enhanced the income of the farmers, but the Akalis scrapped it just because they could not tolerate that the Congress was doing something for the farmers. He said not only the farmers but all sections of the society were alienated and disillusioned with present government. “Be it the employees, the unemployed, the traders, the industrialists or anybody else, nobody is happy with this government and they want to check them out.” Referring to the ongoing campaign of Manpreet Badal against his uncle Parkash Badal and his cousin Sukhbir Badal, he said all were chips off the old block. On one side Manpreet opposed subsidies, on the other he himself availed subsidy of Rs 9 lakh for his kinnow fruit crop. “Manpreet would not harm the Congress in the forthcoming Assembly elections but would hit the SAD-BJP combine,” he said. Amarinder alleged that sand mafia of Sukhbir Singh Badal and his brother-in-law Bikramjit Majithia were responsible for heavy increase in the sand price, which was available at Rs 8 per kg in Ludhiana. Prominent among those present on the occasion, included Hoshiarpur MP Santosh Chaudhary, Lal Singh, Luv Kumar Goldy, Ashwani Sekhri, Rana KP, Arvind Khanna, RC Dogra, Kamal Chaudhary, Sangat Singh Gilljian, DP Sabberwal, Charanjit Singh Channi, Shinghara Ram, Gulshan Rai Passi Monty, Mangat Ram Judge Mukerian, Chaudhary Ram Lubhaya and others.
	8 Sikh Regiment opens hall dedicated to Kargil heroes Kusum Arora Tribune News Service Jalandhar, January 17 To salute its gallant soldiers for their indomitable spirit in capturing the Tiger Hill during Operation Vijay and to traverse its genesis in the pre-Independence days, the 8th Battalion Sikh Regiment, Tibri Cantt, has inaugurated a “Motivation Hall” in the battalion. The occasion was the 49th Raising Day of the battalion, which was celebrated recently amidst an emotional reunion of Kargil war widows. The hall was inaugurated by the first Commanding Officer (CO) of the battalion, Brig Jaswant Singh Sandhu along with the present CO, Col AK Srivastava. From pictures of Kargil martyrs and ammunition seized from the enemy in Pakistan, letters written to the soldiers by fellow Indians during the war to pictures of victorious soldiers at the Tiger Hill, the hall speaks volumes about battalion’s saga till date. A board in the middle of the hall reads “8 Sikh ki Tiger Hill Larai ki Gaurav Gatha,” depicting the names of Lt Kanad Bhattacharya, subedar Nirmal Singh, subedar Joginder Singh, havildar Kulbir Singh, havildar Ajaib Singh and others who lost their lives in action. Despite his old age, Brigadier Sandhu (93), the first CO of the battalion, who reported on March 21, 1963 and hoisted the flag of 8 Sikh the same day, made it to the function to meet war widows. He said, “I lost 35 young brave sons in the Kargil war. But, with its glorious past and brave soldiers, the battalion would always remain in ‘chardhi kala’ and go a long way in serving the nation”. Manjit Kaur, wife of naib subedar Nirmal, who was killed in the battle, said, “The battalion is second home for us now. The officers and fellow soldiers keep us informed about various welfare schemes and initiatives by the Army. It is an honour that the battalion invited us on this occasion”. Recalling the course of events, a JCO, who also fought in the war, said, “Soldiers from our battalion fought with exemplary courage. It was terrible to see our fellow soldiers die in action and others losing their limbs, but the battalion lived up to its name”. A young officer of the battalion said as soon as he joined the 8 Sikh, he was made to visit Kargil war widows at various places. “It is a custom with the battalion, which we fulfill dutifully,” he quipped.
	Chawla burns habit-forming drugs worth Rs 8 lakh Tribune News Service Jalandhar, January 17 Punjab Health Minister Luxmi Kanta Chawla burnt habit-forming drugs worth over Rs 8 lakh here today. The drugs, which were seized by the district drug authorities during a raid on a chemist shop in 2008, were set on fire in the presence of hundreds of students of the DAV Institute of Engineering and Technology (DAVIET). “Such drugs are curse on our society and cause both mental and physical degeneration of Punjabi youth. By setting such drugs on fire, we are trying to give a message that the social evil of addiction should be burnt to ashes as soon as possible,” said Chawla, who was here to attend a seminar organised by DAVIET on female foeticide and drug addiction. She said till now, drugs worth Rs 1.15 crore had been destroyed in all 20 districts of the state. Taking a dig at the Indian Medical Association, Punjab, in reaction to the protest by it against the proposed Private Health Regulation Bill, she said to regulate the quality of healthcare services in thousands of private hospitals, such Act should come up at the earliest. Earlier, during the seminar, students of DAVIET, through choreography, poems and power point presentations highlighted the cost which the society would have to pay due to evils of addiction and compromised sex ratio.
	3 killed in mishaps Our Correspondents Tarn Taran, January 17 Manjit Kaur (35) of Vain Poin village, 15 km from here, and Amritpal Singh (30) of Bandala village 14 km from here, died in two road accidents, while two others were injured in these accidents during the last 24 hours in the area. According to information here today, Manjit Kaur along with her relative Kulwant Kaur was returning to their village Vain Poin on a motorcycle driven by their relative Panjveer Singh, when they were hit by a van (PB-33 A, 1588). Manjit Kaur was admitted to Amandeep Hospital, Amritsar, but she died last evening. Panjveer Singh and Kulwant Kaur are under treatment. The driver of the van, identified as Sukhdev Singh of the same village Vain Poin, has been booked under Sections 304A, 338, 279 and 427 of the IPC by the Goindwal Sahib police. In the second accident, Amritpal Singh died near Sarhali, 24 km from here when his motorcycle rammed into a roadside tree. Pathankot: Rajinder Kumar (42), an auto-rickshaw driver, was killed after a speeding truck hit his vehicle from back near Parmanand today. The truck driver, who escaped after the incident, was booked.
	Robbers snatch car from industrialist Our Correspondent Phagwara, January 17 Three armed robbers snatched an Innova car (PB-08BG-2243) from a Jalandhar industrialist, Murari Lal, at gunpoint near Punjab Bone Mills, Chiherru, between Jalandhar and Phagwara, on the national highway in wee hours today. Murari Lal, owner of a rubber factory in Jalandhar, was going to Saharanpur along with his six family members, including four women, to attend the marriage function of his relative when the robbers chased his Innova and stopped it by parking their Endeavour car before it. A few other robbers stopped their Swift D-Zire car behind the Innova. Three robbers asked all occupants of the Innova at gunpoint to come out of the vehicle and sped away in their Innova, also taking away a purse containing some cash and gold ornaments, the police said. The police has registered a case.
	Employees hold protest Tarn Taran, January 17 Hundred of teachers and employees of different departments deputed for Census work demonstrated at the SDM office in protest against the instruction of doing the work after official hours here today. Balkar Valtoha, Sardool Singh and Tejinder Singh said the administration had instructed them to do the Census work after school/office timings, which was a tough job. The SDM Bakhtawar Singh assured them justice. — OC