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Robbery at jewellery shop in village
Turban Frisking in Italy |
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Amarinder dares Sukhbir to hold early poll
Rampura Phul (Bathinda), February 11
Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Amarinder Singh today dared Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, to hold early Assembly elections in the state, saying the PPCC was fully ready to face the elections and wipe out the SAD in the poll. PPCC chief Captain Amarinder Singh and CLP leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal wave to the gathering during a Congress rally organised at Rampura Phul in Bathinda district on Friday. Also seen in the picture from right are Capt Amarinder Singh’s son Raninder Singh, Amritsar MLA OP Soni, Rampura Phul MLA Gurpreet Singh Kangar and Nathana MLA Ajaib Singh Bhatti. Tribune photo: Pawan Sharma
Punjab still lacks basic amenities: Manpreet
Scuffle between 2 Cong groups to reach rally stage
Supporters of two Congress groups engage in a scuffle at the entrance to the main stage of the rally held at Rampura Phul on Friday. Tribune photo: Pawan Sharma
‘Investments in agriculture, rail links should increase’
Staff crunch hits Patiala MC functioning
Seven-seater cars to connect remote areas
Golden Temple entrance plaza to be ready by Oct: Sukhbir
Joining orders of teachers
J&K school awaits govt compensation
Suicides due to debt
Opium Smuggling
Whistleblowers to return award money if version disbelieved: HC
Three held for murdering workshop owner
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Robbery at jewellery shop in village
Phillaur, February 11 Apra police post head constable Rashpaul Singh, while confirming the incident, told The Tribune that four robbers came to the village in a Tata Indica, silver-coloured car having a fake number, PB-10A-8439, this morning. One of the robbers remained sitting in the car and kept the engine running and the other three robbers, wearing monkey caps, having pistols and an assault rifle, struck at the shop at about 9 am. They first opened fire and asked the six members of the staff, including the shop owner, Kumar Ghai, two girls and three boys, to collect the entire jewellery, including the gold and silver ornaments, in a bag they had brought and hand it over to them. The robbers also threatened to set the shop on fire. Kumar Ghai told the police that they were so frightened that they themselves collected the gold ornaments, weighing about more than one and a half kilogrammes, and more than 10 kg of silver ornaments, and put these in the bag of the robbers and handed over to them. He said a few customers were also detained by the robbers who again opened fire in and outside the shop before fleeing. Loss of more than Rs 40 lakh is being estimated, the police said. The robbers asked the staff to lie down on the floor, left the shop and sped away in broad daylight in their car, parked near BMC Chowk, Apra. SP, Intelligence, Opinderjit Singh Ghumman, and Phillaur SHO Jaswinderpal Singh came to the spot. A team of finger prints experts headed by Jaswinder Kaur succeeded in getting finger prints from the torch and the petrol cane that the robbers had left behind in haste. The police has taken the CCTV camera in its custody and watched the video clips to find out any clue. The Apra police has registered a case under Sections 392, 307 and 34 of IPC and Sections 25, 54, 59 of the Arms Act.
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Turban Frisking in Italy
Jalandhar, February 11 “We have also written to the Indian Prime Minister and other authorities concerned urging them to take up the turban removal issue with the government of Italy,” he said. “Soon, we would also seek an appointment with the PM in this regard,” he added. “There are about 3 lakh Indians in Italy and 70 per cent of them are Punjabis,” said Dhillon. He said a few days ago he along with about 10 other Sikhs, who flew from Rome to India via Doha, had to remove turbans at the Rome Airport.
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Amarinder dares Sukhbir to hold early poll
Rampura Phul (Bathinda), February 11 Amarinder further said that Sukhbir wanted to hold early Assembly elections as he knew that the SAD-BJP government would not be able to procure the next Kharif crop (paddy) in a proper manner. On the other hand, he said, Sukhbir would also examine the prospects of his party whether it would win the elections or not. Amarinder was addressing a massive gathering at the Congress rally, organised at the Grain Market here today. The PPCC president also confirmed that the the party ticket in the ensuing Assembly elections would be given to the sitting Congress MLAs from Bathinda district, including Gurpreet Singh Kangar, Ajaib Singh Bhatti and Jeet Mohinder Singh. He also called upon the Congress men to be ready for ousting the Badal government in the elections. Pointing towards Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Singh on the issue of the alleged atrocities committed on Congress workers by the police, the PPCC president also said that he would “hang the duo upside down” whenever the Congress came to power. He also told the Badals that police officials could not help them in winning the elections; if they thought so, they were mistaken. Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly Rajinder Kaur Bhattal said the Congress would approach the Election Commission of India to impose a ban on contesting Assembly elections by the SAD as during the SGPC elections, the SAD claimed it was a religious party while in the Assembly elections, it was a political party. She also criticised the Badal government for its “failure” on various fronts. Among others who were present or spoke at the rally included Congress MLAs from Bathinda district, Gurpreet Singh Kangar, Ajaib Singh Bhatti, Makhan Singh and Harminder Singh Jassi, former general secretary of the PPCC, and Amarinder’ son Raninder Singh, coordinator of the rally, MLA OP Soni, former minister and MLA Lal Singh, former MLAs Harbans Singh Sidhu, Arvind Khanna and Jasbir Singh advocate.
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Punjab still lacks basic amenities: Manpreet
Amloh (Fatehgarh Sahib), February 11 Addressing a gathering of thousands, most of them sporting a saffron band over their heads, the former Finance Minister of Punjab said despite 64 years of independence, people still lacked basic amenities. Blaming the government, he said people wanted to usher in a change. He said the industries in Punjab were deteriorating and businessmen were being forced to leave the state. “There is to lack of infrastructure and no help from the state government,” he remarked. Talking to mediapersons he said the tall claims of the state government were a farce. He said Punjab was not number one, in terms of development, but fell behind many other states and might be at the 27th position. Praising the DGSE (Director General of School Education, Punjab) Krishan Kumar, Manpreet claimed that he was one of the honest officers and people should recognise his good deeds. “If there is some improvement in the field of education of the state it is because of Krishan Kumar,” said the former minister. He said people of the state were hooked to various drugs including liquor, which was being sold from every nook and corner of the state. Instead of minting money from the slow poison, the liquor vends should be ‘thrown out’ of villages and it should be opened between 10 am to 5 pm, just like the liquor vends in Delhi. Meanwhile, vendors were seen selling posters of Bhindranwale during Manpreet’s rally.
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Scuffle between 2 Cong groups to reach rally stage
Rampura Phul (Bathinda), February 11 The entrance to the main stage of the rally turned into a virtual battlefield, when the supporters of Amarjeet Sharma, an aspirant for the Assembly ticket from Rampura Phul, tried to step on the stairs leading to the stage and the supporters of the sitting MLA (Rampura Phul), Gurpreet Singh Kangar, thwarted their move. Sloganeering, tossing of turbans and thrashing one another lasted for almost an hour. Finding the situation taking an ugly turn, the coordinator of the rally, MLA (Amritsar) OP Soni, came down from the stage and pacified the two groups. Despite this, Kangar’s supporters did not allow Sharma to reach the stage. Enthusiasm among the crowd was so high that even after Amarinder Singh reached the venue quite late, it took almost 10 minutes for him to come out of his SUV, that was parked adjacent to the main stage, before he reached his seat. Amarinder, in his speech, addressed Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal as “Badshah Badal” and his son Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal as “Nikka Badal”.
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Disposal of Medical Waste
Patiala, February 11 The PPCB has decided that these institutions will either have to follow the prescribed norms to “treat their waste before being discharged” or face strict action. Sources said that despite mounting pressure of the PPCB, numerous HCUs were still throwing their waste untreated in the open. Sources in the PPCB confirmed that medical institutions would soon be monitored regularly by the PPCB to check the pollutants let lose by them without treatment. “We would make sure that there is compliance of treatment of medical waste before being thrown out by these institutions or face penalty,” they added. Member secretary, PPCB, Babu Ram confirmed that the PPCB regularly monitored pollution caused by the untreated water thrown by the hospitals and labs across Punjab. “The water released by them is full of medical waste and when it mixes with another channel, the pollutants get mixed in such a manner that they become inseparable. However, a separate wing of our department is already looking after them,” he stated. The bio-medical waste gathered from hospitals, laboratories and nursing homes ideally needs to be treated under the prescribed rules, but owing to lack of checks, almost all institutions were ignoring the norms and throwing the waste in the open or burning the same. Even water used to wash blood samples and wounds loaded with medicine is also thrown straight in the open which can be extremely harmful and can cause numerous diseases. Additional secretary, PPCB, Balwinder S Brar, confirmed to The Tribune that there were prescribed rules framed by the central government to check the HCUs and strict guidelines were already in place. “We have treatment facilities in the shape of Common Bio-Medical Treatment facilities that are available in Bathinda, Mohali, Gurdaspur Amritsar and Ludhiana, which collect such waste from nearby districts,” he added. “Meanwhile, if any person has any complaint or anything to reveal, they can contact the PPCB officials. We will initiate strict action against the culprits,” he added.
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‘Investments in agriculture, rail links should increase’
Chandigarh, February 11 The economists said there was an urgent need to rejuvenate agricultural research and extension system through the Punjab Agriculture University (PAU). They called for revamping and upgrading the canal system and developing rural non-farm sectors to ensure adequate livelihood for marginal and small farmers. Eminent economist Dr Ranjit Singh Ghuman, during a deliberation at the the Punjabi University, Patiala, said economists felt there was a need for constructing the missing rail links for better connectivity with the state capital. He said there was a need to construct a rail link between Mohali and Rajpura to connect the Malwa region with Rajasthan and Haryana besides Chandigarh and to construct the Qadian-Beas rail link to provide direct link to the border district of Gurdaspur. Director-General of the Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID), Dr Suchha Singh Gill, said after an initial acceleration due to the Green Revolution, the state had been experiencing a deceleration in terms of economic growth and development. Punjab’s annual growth rate, which used to be much higher than the national growth rate, has been significantly lower than the national average ever since the eighth five-year plan (1992-97). Even, the targeted growth rate during the 11th five-year plan (2007-12) was much lower than that of the national average. The economists, including Dr Sukhpal Singh of PAU, Dr Inderjit Kaur, Dr Lakhwinder Singh, Dr Jaswinder Singh Brar of Punjabi University and Dr Neera Verma of Kukukshetra University and Dr Gian Kaur of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar felt that the concessions provided to the hill states and the states of special category had put Punjab into a doubly disadvantageous position. They said in such a case the Centre should provide a compensatory special investment deficiency package to the tune of Rs 50,000 crore (Rs. 10,000 crore per annum) to rejuvenate the economy in the next five years. They also advocated that a debt relief package should also be awarded to the state.
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Staff crunch hits Patiala MC functioning
Patiala, February 11 Presently there is no official to monitor the under-construction buildings in various parts of Patiala, coming under the jurisdiction of the civic body. Presently, there is no Superintendent Engineer, Executive Engineer, Assistant Town Planner and Municipal Town Planner available with the building branch of the MC. “There are 50 municipal wards in Patiala but there are only four building inspectors against the need for at least 10. It is difficult for them to inspect the under-construction buildings in the city,” Patiala Municipal Commissioner Manjit Singh Narang said. Senior civic officials said to ensure that all the new buildings coming up in the city conform the sanctioned building plan, technical experts are required. “In the absence of the MTP and ATP’s, there is no technical expert to monitor the under-construction residential and commercial buildings,” said Mayor Ajit Pal Singh Kohli. Out of the 24 posts of Junior Engineers, only four have been filled. Highly placed sources informed that unlike other Municipal Corporations of Punjab, presently there is no Joint Commissioner and Additional Commissioner in Patiala MC. “Works pertaining to the e-governance and e-tendering are also suffering in wake of the staff crunch. We need technically sound experts to oversee the e-governance and e-tendering works,” said Narang. Corporation officers said the area under MC jurisdiction was 29 km in 1995, which has registered a three-time increase but the staff strength remains the same. “In 1995, there were 1,500 Safai Sewaks available with the MC but the number has gone below 700 today. If required the staff is provided to the Patiala MC, we would be able to provide much better services to the city residents,” Narang and Kohli said.
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Seven-seater cars to connect remote areas
Amritsar, February 11 Talking to the Tribune, over the phone, Transport Minister, Mohan Lal, said the blueprint had been prepared and he had signed it recently. Anticipating the proposal to be tabled before the Cabinet on February 22, he said the cars would infuse a sense of belongingness among the residents of the state. As the state shares over 550 km international border with Pakistan, several cars would connect the isolated border areas to the National Highways, link roads and bus stands. He said the seven-seater cars, running on diesel, would operate on the 1,000 routes, not covered by mini-buses.
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Golden Temple entrance plaza to be ready by Oct: Sukhbir
Amritsar, February 11 The Deputy Chief Minister stated this while reviewing the progress of the plaza at a high-level meeting in Chandigarh which was called to give final touches to the conceptual plan. Directing Principal Secretary, Tourism, Geetika Kalha, to ensure the completion of the project by October, Sukhbir said Punjab Heritage and Tourism Promotion Board should consider allotment of this project to an international firm of repute on a turnkey basis that should accomplish this work not as a project but as a “sewa” to the entire humanity. He said unless the project consultant was not emotionally involved in the project, it may not show the desired result. He asked the architect to work out a detailed capacity and movement plan of the sangat particularly during gurupurb so that there should not be any blockade in the flow of devotees even during a high turnout day. Sukhbir asked Kalha to coordinate with the SGPC for the constitution of a project maintenance core group that would be responsible for upkeep and maintenance of this plaza in a professional way. He said the plaza should look like a befitting entry to the internationally acclaimed monument of faith and should complement the glory and grandeur of Sri Harmandir Sahib. Prominent among others who participated in the meeting included Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, DS Guru, and Director, Tourism, Hussan Lal.
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Joining orders of teachers
Jalandhar, February 11 On a query on the delay in issuing the joining orders of 6,500 teachers recently recruited under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan, he said he would discuss the issue with the Education Minister. Similarly, he said far reaching administrative reforms had been initiated by the government when his attention was drawn towards the ongoing tussle between the Director General School Education and the Education Minister, its effect on the functioning of the education department and the morale of the teachers- in-waiting. — TNS
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J&K school awaits govt compensation
Amritsar, February 11 Bishop of Amritsar and Chairman of Tyndale Biscoe and Malllinson School Education Society PK Samantaroy said the school is currently functioning from a health department building facilitated by the state government at Dhobiwan, 12 km from Tangmarg. However, the building has been made available to them only till March, after which they have to shift back to the school’s old site where the government will facilitate prefabricated structures. He said they had sought compensation of Rs 8 crore but the state government had announced only Rs 1 crore which too hadn’t been released till now.
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Suicides due to debt
Ludhiana, February 11 Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjabi University, Patiala, and Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, were sanctioned Rs 22, 39 and 34 lakh, respectively, to conduct a survey of 20 districts. The survey aimed to compensate the families after they were identified. The PAU was entrusted with the survey in June 2008 and the other two universities were asked to collaborate with PAU in March last year. A grant of Rs 5 lakh each was sanctioned to the PAU and Punjabi University in June last year. Even this grant was credited after several requests to the treasuries as there was no money in government’s account. No amount was released to the GNDU. The team of economists from PAU, led by Dr Sukhdev Singh, covered Sangrur and Bathinda districts out of the six districts entrusted for the survey with the university. These included Ludhiana, Moga, Barnala and Mansa. Punjabi University, Patiala, team led by economist Dr OP Miglani that was promised Rs 39 lakh, covered three other districts. The GNDU could not cover a single district. “We were not given any money. So, we could not start any survey,” said Dr Gian Kaur, an economist and Principal Investigator. The three universities had decided to complete the survey within 10 months. In the spirit of working for a noble cause the team of Punjabi University, Patiala, did not even claim the travel and other allowances. The survey was ordered by none other than the Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal himself on April 27, 2007. He had first asked the administration to conduct the survey. Later, the government decided to hand it over to the three universities. Chief Secretary, Government of Punjab, SC Aggarwal, said he did not know anything about the issue and Financial Commissioner (Development), Navreet Kang, is the right person to be contacted over the same. Feigning ignorance, Kang said Financial Commissioner (R) AR Talwar could say something as the Revenue Department was handling the survey. Talwar said he joined his office two days ago and required time to go through the files. Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta) had released a list of 2,860 farmers in 2006, who had committed suicides. The data was collected by farmers’ bodies in eight districts of Punjab over the last 15 years. The figure stands at Sangrur (1,046), Bathinda (750), Moga (475), Mansa (424), Ferozepur (77), Muktsar (61), Faridkot (25) and Ludhiana (12).
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Evaluation scheme a social equaliser, says CBSE chief
Ludhiana, February 11 When asked about the bias of the schools that “allocate streams” to the students in Class XI as per their grades achieved under CCE, he said all affiliated schools have been categorically asked to give preference to their students instead of admitting students with higher percentage from other schools. An average student interested in opting for medical, non-medical or commerce streams in his own school will have the right to do so, as the CBSE has already given instruction for the same, clarified Vineet Joshi. “We also ask the parents to give us a feedback so as to strengthen the CCE system. Also 2,000 school principals and teachers from across the country have been trained to monitor the system,” said Joshi. The CBSE website has a chapter, “interact with the chairman” wherein parents of the school students from across the country have listed 8,000 queries in last one year and 6,500 have already been answered to, he said. When asked about the criticism on the discontinuation of the Class X board examination, Vineet Joshi said, “The schools, teachers and the parents used to link everything with the board examinations thereby stalling every innovative move, as a result the students were the sufferers. Thus, doing away with the board examinations had to be the first step towards academic evolution,” he said. Emphasising upon the other reforms implemented by the board, the chairman said the principals of the CBSE schools have been asked to give admission to the children with physical and mental disabilities under inclusive education programme. On the “arbitrary fee hike” by some CBSE-affiliated schools in Ludhiana and the state, he said if the fee is increased without consulting the parents, people should forward a complaint against the school and the board will take action.
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Opium Smuggling
Faridkot, February 11 She along with her husband Suba Ram, son Simarjit Sharma and two smugglers of UP, Narayan Dass and Raj Pal, was arrested by the local police on October 16, 2007. Two kg of opium and Rs 45,000 in cash were seized from her house. A criminal case under Sections 18, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act was registered against the accused in a local police station. During investigations, the police came to know that the seized money was to be paid to the smugglers of UP after taking the delivery of opium, which was smuggled for selling illegally in Faridkot district. It also came out from the police findings that another woman, Basanti Devi, a resident of Bareily (UP), worked for them as a courier who used to smuggle opium from UP by hiding it in her under garments and she was paid a sum of Rs 1,200 per kg of smuggled opium. Basanti could not be arrested by the police even as many raids were carried out on her possible hideouts. During the course of the trial, the court declared her a proclaimed offender in the case. After a few months in judicial custody, Veena and her family members were granted bail by the court. After coming out of the jail, she made a complaint to the DGP of the state police that she was framed in a false case and an inquiry in this regard was handed over to the crime branch. The DSP of crime branch, Jagdeep Singh Sidhu, on August 21, 2010 in his investigation found that Veena was not involved in opium smuggling but her husband and son were engaged in this illegal business. In the meantime, the local police, while putting up a challan in the court, also named her as accused in this case and accordingly the court framed charges against her along with others. The local cops who arrested her also gave statements in the court against her. Veena contested the Assembly election on the Congress ticket from Faridkot in 1985 but she lost. She was the vice-president of the PPCC when she was arrested by the police.
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Whistleblowers to return award money if version disbelieved: HC
Chandigarh, February 11 The assertion by Justice Jitendra Chauhan came on an appeal filed by Amar Nath challenging the judgment dated November 22, 2002, whereby Patiala Special Judge convicted him in a corruption case before sentencing him to two years rigorous imprisonment. The case was registered on the complaint of Dalwara Singh before vigilance bureau, Patiala. He had alleged that accused - a hospital employee - had demanded Rs 500 as illegal gratification for supplying bed head ticket, x-ray report and other documents relating to his treatment after he sustained gunshot injuries. Ultimately, the bargain was struck at Rs 450. But instead of paying the money, he got an FIR registered. After hearing the arguments and going through the record, Justice Chauhan asserted: The complainant was armed with a court order and no one would dare to ask for a bribe knowing fully well that it will be a direct violation of the court’s order, in addition to being an illegal act under the Prevention of Corruption Act” Justice Chauhan added a perusal of the application moved by the complainant before the Court concerned for the medical records from Rajindera Hospital would shows only two documents were wanted from Rajindera Hospital, Patiala. One of the documents was supplied to him by the dispatch clerk and the other was not in the possession of the appellant himself. There was, thus, no occasion for the appellant to demand any kind of bribe from the complainant. Acquitting the accused of the charges he was convicted for, Justice Chauhan asserted: “The complainant received an amount of Rs 25,000 for getting the present case registered against the appellant. “Since, the complainant version has been disbelieved by this Court, it is also directed that he shall refund the said amount of Rs 25,000 with interest at the rate of seven per cent from the receipt of the award amount till its realisation within a period of one of receiving the judgment’s copy. The Special Judge, Patiala, will ensure the compliance of this direction and to do the needful as per law.”
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Three held for murdering workshop owner
Morinda, February 11 SSP Jatinder Singh Aulakh said on February 7 Surjit Singh from Dangrali village had lodged a complaint with the Morinda police that three people had attacked his brother-in-law, Harpal, with sharp edged weapons. When Harpal’s friend, Sajjan Singh, resident of Chhota Samana village tried to intervene, he too was injured. The complainant told the police that Harpal was murdered over a family feud. Accused Gurpreet Singh’s paternal aunt, Karamjit Kaur, and Harpal’s daughter, Kulvir Kaur, had some differences. Area residents had tried bridge the differences between the two. Consequently, they had reached a mutual agreement. Area residents said the cause of feud is believed to be the issue of overflowing drains. In the absence of proper sewerage system in Morinda, the city had overflowing drains that cause inconvenience. Karamjit Kaur and Kulvir Kaur had an argument over a flowing drain, which led to Harpal Singh’s murder. Despite the agreement, Karamjit’s relatives were against Harpal and his family members. Harpal was murdered over the grudge while he was at his shop on
February 8. The accused are between 20-25 years of age and are unmarried. The accused were produced before the court and have been sent to a day’s police remand.
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President of the Indian Overseas Congress Karamjit Singh Dhillon said today that various Sikh organisations in Italy have lodged a strong protest against the growing incidents of the security staff asking Sikhs to remove their turbans for security checks at various airports in Italy. He said the Sikhs are also against a new law disallowing photo of a person in turban on the driving licenses.
Amloh (Fatehgarh Sahib), February 11
Rampura Phul (Bathinda), February 11
Disposal of Medical Waste
Amritsar, February 11
