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Milled rice rots in granaries
Rewari Massacre
‘It was height of brutality’
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Sukhbir leads protest against stalling of Ghaggar project
Cabinet meeting today
Bedi blames officials for jail incidents
Tough to count people in 233 border villages
Toronto flight evokes mixed response
Danga peerit panel for action against top admn brass
Registration of NRIs as voters approved
PSEB-affiliated schools threaten to boycott exams
New DIG wants police to develop soft skills
DIG (Ropar range) MF Farooqui (left) and SSP, Ropar, Jatinder Singh Aulakh, interacts with mediapersons in Ropar on Monday. Photo by writer
Vets examine ‘foot-and-mouth’ affected cattle
Settle cases of ex-servicemen’s loans on priority: Bath
Rotational irrigation programme
Remand for accused in incubator deaths case
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Milled rice rots in granaries
Ludhiana, February 21 Not only lakhs of metric tonnes (MT) of rice (2009-10) lying in mills is rotting in this “waiting” process, but owners of several flour mills in the state are purchasing the “poor quality” of rice to be sold in the market after mixing it with wheat flour. This “mixed flour” is harmful for human consumption. According to rice shellers, they were just doing the job of milling the rice at the rate of Rs 18 per quintal. But the rice had to be lifted and later sent to FSDs by the governments. “Until we get a formal nod from the government, we cannot send rice to depots on our own. Due to rain, frost, excessive sunlight etc, the rice gets damaged and discoloured, as it is lying in the open. Even due to tip damage or spot damage, the technical staff of the FCI refuses to lift it from mills. And the damaged produce gets piled up,” said a rice miller. Ravinderpal Singh, who has organic fish farms in Rala, Charak and Gharuan villages, said despite several requests, rice millers were not ready to sell the damaged rice to farmers. “This damaged rice can be a good feed to our fish. The normal feed of fish is available at Rs 14 per kg in the market, but this rotten rice could be made available at just Rs 2 per kg. But rice millers do not sell the left over to us, instead they sell it to flour mill owners at a higher price (Rs 4-6 per kg), who mix it with wheat flour and sell in the market,” he said. He added that “the nexus was not possible without the connivance of FCI officials and employees”. Tarlochan Singh, a progressive farmer, said earlier in just Raanwan village near Khamano, paddy worth crores of rupees got damaged. “But it is a similar situation everywhere in the state. If the FCI fails to lift produce on time, it should give its godowns on lease to farmers. The production is more in Punjab. The state government fails to store it properly and the Centre does not lift the produce on time. This is the national loss and nobody owns responsibility for
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Rewari Massacre
Bathinda, February 21 After listening to the survivors, the SGPC chief assured them of providing the best possible assistance to get compensation and bringing the culprits to book. The SGPC chief said he had formed separate panels to collect the details and probe the matter, adding that the committee would also form a panel of top criminal lawyers to pursue the case in courts. Describing the killing of Sikhs as a “well-planned” conspiracy, Makkar said he had been told that many of the officials had allegedly connived to shield the accused. “As the survivors of the massacre have told me that the then Haryana Chief Minister, Bhajan Lal, had also played a role in covering up the matter, we regard him as an accomplice of Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar, the prime accused in the 1984 riots,” said Makkar. “As we have taken up the responsibility to fight for the cause of the riot victims, we shall collect all information required from the revenue, municipal and electoral records. FIRs and the action taken by the police will also be studied in-depth. Once the process is completed, the future course of action will be chalked out on the basis of the facts,” he said. The SGPC chief also demanded a high-level probe by the Centre, saying, “Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is also a Sikh, must show concern and immediately order a probe into the matter. The inquiry must be conducted by a senior judicial officer.” When asked why the issue had surfaced after 26 years and that too when the SGPC elections are just a few months away, Makkar said politics had nothing to do with it. “We are surprised that such a brutal act took place in a village but was not noticed. Much to my shock, a family (survivors of the massacre) from Ludhiana was very close to me but never shared its experience with me earlier. But I assure you that the fight is to help the survivors to get their rights and not to gain any political mileage,” he said. Meanwhile, some of the riot victims accused the district administration of indifference. They alleged that despite submitting applications for the red card and other benefits, the officials concerned never took them seriously. Taking serious note of the complaint, Makkar directed the SAD’s Bathinda in charge, Sarup Chand Singla, to pursue their case seriously. Makkar said he would personally visit the village on Tuesday.
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‘It was height of brutality’
Bathinda, February 21 Failing to control her tears, Jaswant Kaur said in a feeble voice, “I was in the streets when a truck reached there at about 11 am and dozens of men jumped out of it. They were so menacing that we rushed inside our haveli.” “When they did not enter our house till 2 pm, we thought things had settled down. But we were wrong. Within minutes, armed with lathis, the rioters attacked our houses. Frightened, we locked ourselves inside the rooms. When they failed to break open the doors, they drilled holes in the roof and started pouring diesel and kerosene inside and set the rooms on fire. Feeling suffocated, we rushed outside and the rioters attacked us,” said Jaswant Kaur. “The bloody episode lasted for a couple of hours in which about 32 persons, all our relatives except for an Army man, who had come for shelter in the village, were killed. It was the height of brutality when 12 members of Gurdial Singh’s family, who had locked themselves up in a room, were set ablaze by the rioters by setting the room on fire. The number could have gone higher but a blast took place in the fuel tank of a tractor that led them to think that some of us had bombs and they fled,” recalled her husband Uttam Singh. When asked if they would like to settle down again in their village, the couple refused saying, “The bloodshed we witnessed there will not allow us even a single night’s sleep. I wish the government books the guilty and builds a memorial to those killed there during the riots,” demanded Uttam Singh.
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Sukhbir leads protest against stalling of Ghaggar project
Moonak (Sangrur), Feb 21 He alleged the Congress had always been “discriminating” against Punjab, which was evident from the fact that the international riparian principle was ignored” in case of Punjab as the former Prime Minister late Indira Gandhi got work on the SYL canal in Kapuri started thus “crushing” the sentiments of Punjabis. He said SAD would use every available democratic forum to “ensure” that not a single drop of water belonging to Punjab is given to other states. He said after completion of the first phase of the project spanning over 25 km, covering Khanouri to Makrour Sahib at the cost of Rs 113 crore, the Centre has “stalled” the work of channelisation. The Centre, he alleged stalled the work as it was imposing an “unwritten condition” on Punjab not to oppose the remaining two phases of Hansi Butana Canal being constructed by Haryana. Earlier, he also laid foundation stones of Government College , Tehsil Complex at Moonak, an Sport Stadium in Hamirgarh village.
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Cabinet meeting today
Chandigarh, February 21 These three posts had been left out due to certain technicalities when the house had approved a hike in salary and allowances of other legislators. The Bill, approved by the Cabinet, will be approved in the Vidhan Sabha’s Budget Session. The Punjab Right to Services Act, 2011 will not be brought before the Cabinet tomorrow as some modifications based on the legal opinion are required. The CM has in principle given a nod to the proposal to bring in legislation for timely delivery of services in the Punjab Rights to Service Act, 2011. As Chief Minister is overseas, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal will chair the Cabinet meeting. The Cabinet will also finalise the date of the Budget Session, which is expected to be held from March 4 to 25. Punjab’s first woman Finance Minister, Dr Upinderjit Kaur, is likely to present the budget on March 16, but the date would be finalised tomorrow. The government is keen to bring in Punjab Rights to Service Act, 2011, at the earliest. Under this legislation, the government will notify services, designated officers, first appeal officers, second appeal officers and the appellate authority as well as the stipulated time limits to which the Act will apply. Upon receipt of an application, officers will either provide the service or reject the application by listing reasons for doing so. Since, the matter will not go before the Cabinet tomorrow, there is a possibility that it is passed in another Cabinet meeting before the budget session, so that the house can approve it. Sukhbir Badal is keen to make this legislation an election issue. It may be recalled that the Vidhan Sabha had during its last session approved the increase in salary and allowances of the MLA and ex-MLAs, but the Speaker, Deputy Speaker and leader of the Opposition were left out due to certain technicalities. Once the Cabinet approved their revised salary and allowances tomorrow, the same will be passed by the Vidhan Sabha in March.
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Bedi blames officials for jail incidents
Amritsar, February 21 She was in the city to preside over the 55th award presentation ceremony held at DAV College, Amritsar. Talking to The Tribune, Bedi advocated adopting the communitarian approach along with law enforcement in jails for bringing in reformatory set-up in a genuine way. “It is the corrupt practices and unprofessional conduct on the part of jail officials which should be held accountable for its poor state of affairs. Had they been loyal towards their duties, a question does not arise about making available prohibitory drugs or gadgets inside such a high security jail,” she said.
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Tough to count people in 233 border villages
Chandigarh, February 21
There are 233 villages along the border in the districts of Ferozepur, Gurdaspur, Amritsar and Tarn Taran. Many of these villages are along the international border with a few even being fenced off. Many others are flood prone as they are situated amidst the Beas and Sutlej rivers or even in dry riverbeds. Research officer BB Jain, who took a manual boat to take stock of the villages of Ghassi Us Paar in Ferozepur district, told The Tribune that he was in for a surprise when villages, made with mud houses, took him back to the Punjab of the older times. In Gurdaspur Additional Deputy Commissioner Rajinderpal Singh said he should have traded his gypsy for an SUV. He said, “I had to travel through 7 km of slush to reach Bhanyal and four other villages, which are cut off from the mainland”. Take aside the difficulty in reaching these villages; enumerators are painting a bleak picture of development in the border areas. They said there was lack of education as people were complaining that even if primary schools were provided, they were not being adequately manned. Same was the condition of health services with accessibility to good hospitals at the subdivision or district level being restricted by lack of adequate crossings over rivers and seasonal rivulets. Power supply was always erratic. The villagers themselves feel the pinch of living along the border. At Mohar Jamsher in Fazilka block of Ferozepur, sarpanch Gurdeep Singh said their only access to their village was from an iron gate in the barbed wire fence with the village being surrounded by Pakistan on all three sides. Students had to travel more than 8 km to study after Class VIII. Bhanyal village sarpanch in Gurdaspur district said their village was cut off from the mainland during the monsoon. Villagers found it difficult to market their crops, particularly sugarcane due to bad roads and lack of procurement centres. State Director, Census, Seema Jain said efforts were being made to ensure smooth enumeration of the population in border villages. She said in cases where women were not able to answer all queries properly ,enumerators had also traveled across the border fence to interact with their menfolk. She said besides covering all villages, all ‘dhanis’ (individual farm houses) was also being covered in the exercise in close coordination with the Deputy Commissioners. Seema Jain said besides distribution of pamphlets, the department was also conducting an SMS campaign besides going in for video conferencing with district administrations to ensure everyone was covered under the exercise.
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Toronto flight evokes mixed response
Amritsar, February 21 A passenger of the AI’s inbound flight Charanjit Singh said that it was good to have traveled in a direct flight from Toronto to the home district but the halt at the Delhi airport was unnecessary. He said the major benefit was that the passengers do not need to disembark at Delhi and then take a connecting flight to Amritsar. Paramdeep Kanwal, Credit Officer with the Royal Bank of Canada at Missisauga (Canada), before catching a return flight to Canada, said the earlier Amritsar-London-Toronto flight of Air India was more convenient and took less time. She said she would have to travel to Delhi and then proceed on her journey Air India’s maiden Toronto-Delhi-Amritsar flight with 86 passengers on board landed at Sri Guru Ramdas (SGR) International Airport at 7 pm on Sunday. Same day, the Amritsar-Delhi-Toronto flight took off with 170 passengers on board at 10:30 pm. On the other hand, exclusion of London took its toll on the export of perishable cargo. After the withdrawal of the Air India’s Amritsar-London-Toronto flight on October 30, the temporary perishable cargo has not received any consignment for export for the past three months. Exporters fearing deterioration in the quality of fresh produce due to multiple handling and delay in transit, have shifted their operations to the Delhi airport.
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Danga peerit panel for action against top admn brass
Chandigarh, February 21 In a petition placed before the Division Bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Augustine George Masih, the Ludhiana-based Sikh Danga Peerit Welfare Committee has also sought “strict action” in the matter against the top brass of the administration. In fact, the committee has sought directions to the State of Punjab and the Secretary (Department of Revenue, Rehabilitation and Disaster Management) to take legal action against the Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner, Municipal Commissioner AK. Sinha, Subdivisional Magistrate (West) Prem Chand and another respondent, Surjit Singh of Ludhiana, for “wrongly identifying about 578 new riot victims in Ludhiana district”. Directions have also been sought to initiate a criminal case against Sinha, Prem Chand and Surjit Singh. The petitioner has claimed that the Vigilance Bureau looked into 30 cases and found that the majority of the beneficiaries had forged the documents to get the rehabilitation package of Rs 2 lakh. But, a probe into the 578 cases of new victim families was not carried under “the new government’s pressure”. Taking up the petition, the Bench today issued notice of motion and fixed May 13 as the next date of hearing in the case. — TNS
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Registration of NRIs as voters approved
Chandigarh, February 21 The Chief Electoral Officer, Punjab, Kusumjit Sidhu, said today that under Section 20A of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, inserted vide the Representation of the People (Amendment) Act, 2010, every overseas elector, Indian citizen, who was absenting from his place of the ordinary residence in India owing to employment, education or otherwise, and had not acquired the citizenship of any other country and was not included in the electoral roll, was entitled to have his/her name registered in the electoral roll of the constituency in which his/her place of residence in India as mentioned in his/her passport was located. In terms of the Rule 8A of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, every overseas elector, whose place of residence in India is located in Punjab and who has completed 18 years of age as on January 1, 2011, and is desirous of registering his/her name in the electoral roll, is invited hereby to submit a claim application in Form 6A for the registration in the electoral roll of the constituency in which his/her place of residence as shown in the passport is located.The claim application in Form-6A may be either submitted in person directly to the registration officer of the constituency concerned or sent to such registration officer by post along with the documents mentioned in the form and the guidelines.
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PSEB-affiliated schools threaten to boycott exams
Mohali, February 21 The decision to appoint the controller of the examination centres from only government schools was taken on the recommendations of a committee constituted by the PSEB and was recently conveyed to the District Education Officers (DEOs). To protest against the decision, the affiliated schools not only threatened to boycott the exams, the association also claimed that the PSEB was not paying fee for constituting the examination centres. Rather, the schools were paying the fee to the PSEB. Pointing out that the government was claiming to check copying by changing the controller of examination centre, president of the Association Rajinder Sharma said maximum numbers of cheating cases were reported from examination centres in the government schools where government officials were on duty. The data of the past years can be checked to verify the fact. At a meeting of the association held here under Rajinder Sharma, vice-president RL Sewak and general secretary IM Dutta, it was pointed out that the state government was giving “step-motherly treatment” to affiliated schools. The association said if the government did not withdraw its decision, the affiliated schools would not create examination centres at their end.
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New DIG wants police to develop soft skills
Ropar, February 21 Talking to mediapersons, Farooqui said the police was working on a crime-mapping project, which would create a database of crimes and criminals and analyse the causes. Similarly, the project would help working out ways to deal with factors influencing crime. He said special emphasis would be laid on developing soft skills in cops who are known to be very strict in dealing with public. “Unlike the colonial days, police has grown more public oriented. Our basic aim is not to terrorise someone, but to create a congenial society to live in,” he said. Talking about the growing traffic chaos and fatal road accidents, Farooqui said the role of traffic police came at the last stage of road safety. “Road safety involves number of departments, including those involved in logistics support and engineering of roads. Sadly enough, new constructions are allowed by roadside without studying impact of volume of traffic the new entity would entail,” he said. He said dealing with road accident was not an overnight project. Marred with inherent problems of wrongly engineered roads, road safety was not only in the hands of cops but in that of people as well. He said people should follow traffic rules, not out of fear of police, but to be safe.
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Vets examine ‘foot-and-mouth’ affected cattle
Dhianumajra (Fatehgarh Sahib), February 21 Several animals were found suffering from foot-and-mouth disease for the past one month and many milk-yielding animals died due to the disease. Kulvir Singh, Nirmal Singh and Malkiat Singh claimed that they had lost nearly 13 farm animals due to delay in free vaccination by the government. However, the Deputy Director of Animal Husbandry, Ravi Bhushan, claimed that there was no delay in vaccination and only two animals had died due to the disease. Doctors from Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana, administered the FMD vaccine to 45 farm animals in the village and officials from the Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, Jalandhar, took blood, fodder and saliva samples. Secretary, Animal Husbandry Department, Usha R Sharma, from Chandigarh, also took stock of the situation in villages and assured all possible help for the affected farmers. The Head of the Epidemology and Preventive Medicines Department, GADVASU, MP Gupta, said his team had visited eight houses in the village and found 45 farm animals suffering from this disease. The team administered antibiotics to the sick animals and medicines to those who had no symptoms of the disease. “The disease would have not assumed alarming proportions if farmers had adopted a proper vaccination schedule,” he said. Gupta said since the disease spread faster during winter and foggy seasons, farmers were advised to administer medicines after every six months. Advising farmers to immediately stop the sale and purchase of animals in open markets, he said the veterinary department should launch a vaccination program in nearby villages to restrain the disease.
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Settle cases of ex-servicemen’s loans on priority: Bath
Chandigarh, February 21 Presiding over a meeting of the officers of the PFC and the Department of Welfare of Ex-Servicemen, Punjab, Captain Bath said the process of remission of the loans raised by the ex-servicemen would be pursued further in the light of the decisions taken by the Punjab Council of Ministers in 2004 and 2009. An amount of Rs 2.7 crore was due against the ex-servicemen. If settled in their favour, it would give not only mental solace but also financial relief to the ex-servicemen, said Captain Bath. According to a spokesman of the government, in the year 1986-87, 680 ex-servicemen were given financial assistance from PFC to start their own venture but unfortunately because of terrorism in the state, 106 ex-servicemen could not even initiate their ventures and they were under an acute financial crisis. The spokesman further said all these 106 beneficiaries had returned their money and the PFC had adjusted the whole amount against interest and not as principal amount. Still there were three cases where not even a penny was returned; rather they lost everything in terrorism.
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Remand for accused in incubator deaths case
Patiala, February 21 An FIR under Section 304-A of the IPC was registered against them late last evening at the Civil Lines police station. The police has arrested the head of pediatrics department, Dr KK Lochan, staff nurse Reeta and another employee, Satya Devi. According to the police, the trio was found to be negligent on duty following which the infants were charred to death. Earlier in the day, some employee unions blocked the traffic and staged a dharna outside the hospital against the arrest of the trio. They lifted the dharna when policemen reassured them that justice was done, as the FIR was registered after a thorough probe of over two years. While initially the government had ordered a judicial probe into the episode after the Medical Education Minister had resigned over the issue, the Home Department had later ordered a criminal probe by the police. The FIR was registered on the complaint by an IAS officer in the Government of Punjab, Rajiv Srivastav, as the case was lodged following a report submitted by SP (Operation) SS Boparai, a few months ago. Patiala SSP Gurpreet Singh Gill confirmed to TNS, that the accused were arrested and as there was no questioning required, therefore the police did not seek remand. “We have the facts with us and all as per law would be done,” he assured. Director, Research and Medical Education, Patiala, Dr Jai Kishen confirmed that following the arrest, suitable action would be taken. “Law would take its own course”, he said. Meanwhile the Punjab State Medical and Dental Teachers Association condemned the arrest, at a meeting held here today. “This incident happened due to old infrastructure and shortage of staff”, the executive committee of the association observed.
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The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) President, Avtar Singh Makkar, accompanied by two executive members of the committee today met six families of
Bathinda
Moonak (Sangrur), Feb 21
Amritsar, February 21
Ropar, February 21 
Difficult to reach with many being cut off by rivers and even man-made obstacles like the barbed wire fence, villages along the border give an impression of the state which has still to get its house
in order.