Ferozepur, February 27
Some unidentified miscreants allegedly set the room of the record keeper of the court of the Additional Sessions Judge on fire late last night. The room is located at a stone’s throw from the DC’s office in the local administrative complex.

The miscreants allegedly broke open the lock of the main gate of the room, sprinkled petrol, which they had brought in a plastic container, on files pertaining to different cases being contested in the court of the Additional Sessions Judge, Jatinder Kaur, and set them on fire. Later, they bolted the gate from outside before fleeing.

Within a few minutes, the entire record and the furniture of the room, which was being used by two record keepers and one typist, was burnt. A blast also took place in the room causing cracks in its walls and the roof.

Though a section of the officials claimed that there were adequate security arrangements in the DC’s office complex where courts of different judicial officials were also located, the fire incident has put a question mark on the seriousness of the authorities in securing important offices against any mischievous act.

It is learnt that watchman Satnam Singh came to know about the incident at 3.30 am and immediately informed the officers concerned.

After getting the information, District and Sessions Judge Jaspal Singh, along with other judicial, civil and police officials, reached the spot. A senior functionary of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh, also visited the spot today.

The police has recovered the container in which the petrol was brought by the miscreants and an iron rod from the spot.

All the doors and windows of the room were also damaged in the fire. Two fire tenders were pressed into service to bring the fire under control.

Deputy Commissioner KK Yadav, who also visited the spot, said prima facie, it was a case of sabotage.

Chandigarh, February 27
The Punjab Vidhan Sabha will have 14 sittings, including double sittings on three days, in the 22-day Budget Session, starting on March 4. The state Budget, first for the new Finance Minister, Dr Upinderjit Kaur, will be presented on March 14. It will be the last Budget for the present SAD-BJP alliance government in the state.

Interestingly, Manpreet Singh Badal, who presented the first four budgets of the current Assembly, will formally launch his new political party, two days before the Budget Session of the Assembly, unless extended, is scheduled to end on March 25.

Of the 14 sittings, tentatively scheduled for the important Budget Session, the first sitting will be for the Governor’s address on March 4. Since the Haryana Assembly is also starting its Budget Session on the same day - March 4, Punjab has decided to delay the start of its session by half an hour to avoid any possible mix-up or confusion with the Governors of two states turning up at the same complex simultaneously.

The Governor’s address is preceded by a few protocol requirements, including presentation of guard of honour to the Governor before he or she is escorted to the House. And since the two Assemblies are located in the same complex and the area used for guard of honour is common, Punjab agreed for change in its start time from the conventional 2 pm to 2.30 pm. The other option was to start the session at 11 am.

After the Governor’s address, when the House assembles again, it will have an obituary session where tributes would be paid to those members of the House, freedom fighters or eminent parliamentarians who passed away since the last sitting of the legislature. In between, March 5 and 6 will be holidays.

The motion of thanks on the Governor’s address will be taken up in the morning sitting on March 8 and will continue in the afternoon sitting also. After a day off on March 9, the House will undertake non-official business on March 10 in the morning sitting while continuing with the debate on the motion of thanks to the Governor’s address in the afternoon session.

March 11 will witness reports of the Comptroller and Auditor-General being tabled in the House besides the Finance accounts for the year 2009-10 and the appropriation of accounts of the last financial year in addition. Supplementary demands, discussion and voting on these demands and appropriation Bills will also be taken up on March 11. March 12 and 13 will be holidays.

It will be on Monday afternoon that Dr Upinderjit Kaur will make her maiden budgetary speech in the House by presenting the Budget estimates. After a day of legislative business on March 15, debate on the Budget estimates will start on March 16 in the morning sitting.

The morning sitting on March 17 will be for transacting non-official business folowed by a debate on the Budget estimates in the afternoon sitting. The debate will be continued on March 18.

The penultimate day, March 24, will once again be reserved for non-official business and the last day will witness voting on the Budget estimates, presentation of appropriation Bill, besides some legislative business before the House is adjourned sine-die.

Chandigarh, February 27
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has held the state of Punjab at fault for its failure to provide the services of public prosecutors to all Criminal Courts in the state.

The Division Bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Augustine George Masih has asserted: “It is the duty and obligation of the state to ensure that each Criminal Court in the State of Punjab, at whatever level, has the services of a public prosecutor available. “The facts stated in an additional affidavit indicate that the position as on date is otherwise and there are Courts in which the services of the public prosecutors are not available”.

But the Bench stopped short of passing any order after the state undertook to rectify the situation by April 1.

The Bench observed: “Additional Advocate-General, Punjab, Rupinder Khosla, has submitted that every endeavour will be made to post at least one public prosecutor in each Court and the state would take up the matter on an immediate basis and ensure that each Court of the State of Punjab is provided with the services of a public prosecutor, at whatever level, i.e. district attorney, deputy district attorney, additional district attorney effective from April 1. “In view of the stand taken on behalf of the State of Punjab, we are of the view that no further orders in this PIL will be called for. The PIL is, accordingly, disposed of in terms of the undertaking made on behalf of the State of Punjab”.

In his petition filed in public interest, high court advocate HC Arora had earlier underscored the issue of shortage of public prosecutors in different Criminal Courts of the state.

Taking up the matter, the Bench observed: “In view of the existing shortage of public prosecutors, a specific prayer has been made that 15 additional district attorneys, now working in the office of the State Legal Services Authority, Punjab, be sent to the Prosecution & Litigation Department of the government for being posted in the Courts.

Before parting with the order, the Bench added: “In the additional affidavit, there is further mention of the steps that have been taken or in the offing for appointment, including creation of the additional posts of the district attorneys, deputy district attorneys and additional district attorneys in different Courts”.

Ludhiana, February 26
A machine developed by Punjab Agricultural University(PAU) and offering an alternative to burning of paddy stubbles, is all set to address similar problems in Australia. Australian farmers too burn straw as a rapid and cheap option to get rid of the stubborn stubbles.

Turbo Happy Seeder, a machine developed by PAU Farm Engineering experts in collaboration with Dashmesh Mechanical Works, Amargarh was sent to Australia recently. The experts of Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, (CSIRO), Griffith are evaluating the machine that would be put to use in their fields after running the field trials.

The seeder is helpful in sowing seeds of the next crop by drilling into the earth, even while a carpet of previous crop stubble is intact in the field. By the time the seeds germinate and reach sapling stage,

the stubble gets decomposed. This protects the environment as farmers do not need to set it on fire.

‘‘We are working on this project for the last one decade. CSIRO had given us this project and an Agronomist from the institute, Dr John Blackwell has been visiting us all these years. We have sent seven machines to them so far, ’’ said Dr C.J.S. Pannu, Senior Research Engineer, Department of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering, PAU, a member of the team of scientists behind the machine.

The Happy Seeder, costing Rs 1.25 lakhs, is available in India and the state government has been encouraging cooperative societies to go for it.

Chandigarh, February 27
The PPCC today finalised the venue of the proposed rally being organised at Khatkar Kalan, the native village of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar (Nawanshahr) district on March 23 to mark the martyrdom day of the great martyr.

Marpreet Badal has already announced that he will launch a political party at Khatkar Kalan on March 23.

The SAD and the BJP are debating whether they want to hold a state- level function at Bhagat Singh’s native village or Sukhdev’s ancestral home at Ludhiana.

A meeting of the Congress was held at Khatkar Kalan that was presided over by senior party leader and former minister Lal Singh. — TNS

Khadoor Sahib, February 27
Better known for his outstanding work in augmenting green cover in Punjab, Baba Sewa Singh Khadoor Sahibwale will be dedicating to society a multi-storey educational centre named Nishan-e-Sikhi here in April to prepare the youth in different fields, enabling them to compete in the fast-paced world.

Spread over four acres of land, the eight-storey tower will facilitate a bouquet of religious education, spiritual awareness, cultural understanding, historic information, vocational knowledge, national cohesion and entertainment options. The idea behind Nishan-e-Sikhi was to provide attractive avenues to students, teachers, preachers, professionals, sportspersons and general public in the wake of falling standard of education and decline in values of life in society.

Talking to The Tribune here, Baba Sewa Singh said, “The projects scheduled for the Nishan-e-Sikhi tower have been planned very carefully and are expected to facilitate resources for educationists, learners and professionals to help plan for the future of education in enhancing job orientation and life values.” According to him, the tower, with 80,000 square feet floor area, will have an auditorium, administrative block, conference hall, religious academy, coaching classes for plus one and plus two students, and a library. “The coaching facility for competitive exams like the IAS, the IPS and the NDA are also under consideration,” he added.

Apart from these, Sri Guru Angad Dev Institute of Careers and Courses set up by Baba Sewa Singh will also move into Nishan-e-Sikhi. Scores of girls from the region have joined the Border Security Force (BSF) and police services after receiving training at the institute.

Baba Sewa Singh said that their religious academy had already started functioning. The academy was running a five-year course in Sikh religion, MA (Gurmat), affiliated with the GND University. “Every year 15 to 20 students are admitted in the academy. They are charged no fee and are provided free lodging and boarding facilities here. On completion of the course, they will become preachers. Therefore, we will be producing 75 to 100 preachers every five years from our academy. These students are taught different languages like Punjabi, Hindi, English and Brij, while French is also under our consideration,” he added.

Incidentally, this is not the only innovative project of Baba Sewa Singh. Earlier, he had been instrumental in setting up a multi-media Sikh museum, the first of its kind in the world, adjacent to Gurdwara Angitha Sahib here.

The Nishan-e-Sikhi is financially supported with donations by Kartar Singh Thukral from Singapore and the Sikh sangat, while Mahinderjeet Singh is the architect. The project was proposed in 2004 to mark the 500th birth anniversary of Guru Angad Dev, while its foundation was laid on January 5, 2006.

Chandigarh, February 27
Punjab power engineers today claimed that the state government’s new power policy allowing the setting up of new power plants by entering into memorandums of understanding with private parties was contrary to the Centre’s power policy.

A seminar organised by the PSEB Engineers Association held that both the Central as well as Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission had come on record that competitive bidding results in cheaper power should be adopted as per the statutory tariff policy of the Centre.

The association stressed that the government’s action to put total dependence on the private sector for the setting up new thermal projects in the state was not in order and proposed that the recent MOUs for new projects at Mansa, Rajpura gas plant and Kot Shamir, along with MoUs for extension units at Talwandi Sabo, Rajpura and Goindwal, be cancelled and instead a 1,320 MW thermal power station in the state sector should be taken up by the PSPCL.

The seminar, which was attended by RV Shahi, former Secretary, Power, and Virinder Singh, a member of the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission, also analysed the present financial status of the PSPCL. It held that while in the past the state had not paid power subsidy, the PSERC was also not allowing revenue expenditures incurred in the past.

The panelists, including association general secretary Bhupinder Singh, held that the revenue gap had resulted in increased borrowings from financial institutions and the working capital loan had increased to Rs 9,500 crore while the total loan had increased to Rs 15,164 crore as on 2009-10.

Sangrur, February 27
Part-time lecturers working in five government established colleges of engineering and technology are a frustrated lot. The reason: They are asked to work full time but are paid peanuts for it.

There are nearly 100 part-time lecturers at the Baba Hira Singh College of Engineering and Technology, Lehragaga; the Giani Zail Singh College of Engineering and Technology, Bathinda, the Malout Institute of Engineering and Technology, Malout, the Shaheed Bhagat Singh College of Engineering and Technology, Ferozepur, and the Beant College of Engineering and Technology, Gurdaspur.

The starting pay of a regular lecturer is nearly Rs 35,000 per month. And a regular lecturer who has 15-20 years’ experience draws salary between Rs 60,000 and Rs 65,000.

However, part-time lectures are being paid only Rs 12,000 per month by the Punjab Government, which is the basic pay plus the dearness allowance.

“We do all duties in the colleges. We take classes, conduct examinations, evaluate answersheets, do duties during youth festivals and also handle jobs related to extra-curricular activities such as the NCC, NSS etc,” said a lecturer posted at one of the colleges.

Another lecturer said on July 20 last year, the government had notified that all part-time lecturers of government colleges would be paid Rs 21,600 per month, but their colleges didn’t implement the revised pay scale on a plea that though these five colleges were established by the government, they were being run by autonomous societies.

“Many of us had joined as a part-time lecturer two years ago. We are qualified and fulfill all conditions of the AICTE and the state government to be regular lecturers. But we have not been given even a single annual increment since our joining,” said the lecturer. “Even regular peons in government departments draw more salary than us,” the lecturer added.

Another part-time lecturer demanded that as they fulfilled all conditions and had a substantial teaching experience, the government should regularise their services.

Suresh Kumar, Principal Secretary (Technical Education and Industrial Training) who is also the chairman of the societies running these government established colleges of engineering and technology, said since these colleges were being run by societies, they could not claim more than Rs 12,000 as consolidated salary.

Bhucho Kalan (Bathinda), February 27
Worried about the whereabouts of Sukhmander Singh (32) of Bhucho Kalan village here, who is stranded in Libya, his elderly mother, Chhinder Kaur, is undergoing a traumatic experience.

“Though two specially arranged flights carrying nearly 500 Indians from Libya have landed in Delhi, there is no news about my son,” she said. Sukhmander had promised his mother to make a call immediately after he reached Delhi. However, till this evening, the family was in the dark about his whereabouts.

“Some days ago, Sukhmander had called up and informed his brother and father that he was undergoing a harrowing experience in Tripoli. The company where he was working has also closed its business. Finding no other option, my son and 10 of his friends had to hid themselves in wait of some help,” told Chhinder Kaur. She further said: “On Saturday morning, Sukhmander called up and informed that the Indian Government had started taking initiatives to bring the stranded Indians back from Libya. He told me that he would be back by Sunday morning and make a call after he would land at the Delhi airport.

“While leaving for Libya in August 2009, he had told me that he wanted to earn enough money to get rid of debt burden. Though he faced many hardships, he kept on saving his earnings and sending money to us,” she said with tears in her eyes.

Bipin Bhardwaj reports from Jalandhar: Worries of the families of 17 Punjabi youths still seem endless as all the youths are helplessly scrambling for seats in planes at Tripoli International Airport for the past four days.

The victims were virtually ‘dumped’ at the airport after being evacuated from the Graiyan city, where they were stuck. Ram Rattan of Kabool Pur village said his elder brother, Raj Kumar, and his 17 colleagues had stuck at the Tripoli airport after bring evacuated from the Graiyan city.

In a telephonic conversation with Ram Rattan, the victims, Raj Kumar, Amarjit, Sabi, Jagdish, Gurtej Singh, Avtar Chand, Balbir Lal, Harbansh Lal and others, revealed that Tripoli International Airport had been choked with over 17,000 persons waiting for their turns to be airlifted.

Ram Rattan said these 17 youths were employed by a construction company in the Graiyan city and were living in a camp on the outskirts of the city when a mob set their camp afire.

Patiala, February 27
Despite several programmes and functions to celebrate the girl child, the number of girls surviving between birth and teenage continues to dwindle. According to the data available at Governemnt Rajindra Hospital, Patiala, it is negligence on part of the parents in securing medical care for their daughter which is responsible for deaths of more girls.

According to data from Government Rajindra Hospital, the female sex ratio from birth to teenage is on the decline.

Over the past 10 years, the survival of girls in Punjab is a dismal 40 to 50 per cent, sources add. The reason is negligence of the girl child by the families. As compared to the male child, girls receive less medical attention.

Startling figures from past seven years prove Punjab is moving from female foeticide to female infanticide. Records at Government Rajindra Hospital show a decrease in the survival of girls.

From 953 girls per 1,000 males born in 2001, the numbers declined to 839 females in 2010. In 2005 the girls born per thousand boys were a low of 838.

“This shows the interest of families in saving their girls,” claims a senior doctor at the Government Rajindra Hospital. “Though the birth of girls can be monitored, but deaths due to negligence should also be monitored by a government agency, as parents themselves want their girls to die,” alleged the doctor.

Data at the OPD department of Government Rajindra Hospital shows that girls up to the age of 15 years brought here is another low. As compared to 100 boys, girls brought to the outdoor unit were in 35 per cent in 2006, 31 per cent in 2007, 32 per cent in 2008, 39.7 per cent in 2009 and 41.5 per cent in 2010.

Another doctor taking care of the Paediatrics department said, in 2006 31.6 per cent girls were admitted to the hospital per 100 boys while in 2007 the number was 24.5 per cent, in 2008 it was 23.3 per cent while in 2009 it was 31.3 per cent and was an extreme low of 23.3 per cent in 2010.

Deputy Medical Superintendent, Rajindra Hospital, Dr Harshinder Kaur said the numbers, claiming that extra efforts were needed to save the girls as families were not giving proper attention to their girls, after birth. “The dismal record proves everything and I am leaving for Canada where I will raise this issue during my address to the Canadian parliamentarians in March, next month,” she adds.

Patiala, February 27
The Municipal Corporation and the Improvement Trust are at loggerheads over the issue of maintenance of Chhoti Baradari Market scheme.

The Trust officials claim that they have requested the MC to takeover the scheme, while the MC authorities claim they are ready to takeover the scheme but the Trust authorities are not ready for the transfer.

According to sources the matter is with the Local Government Minister, Punjab, Manoranjan Kalia.

Owners of commercial establishments in the market scheme are the worst sufferers as they are struggling to get civic amenities.

Chhoti Baradari Market Development Association president Hardev Singh Balli said, “As Chhoti Baradari market is yet to be handed over to the MC, the shopkeepers and owners of other commercial establishments here are being deprived of basic civic amenities. The main problem we face is of choked sewerage.”

Association patron Gurdeep Singh rued that the scheme has not been handed over to the MC despite several representations to the Improvement Trust.

“Patiala MC is collecting house tax from us but when it comes to the issue of providing civic facilities, officials of the MC says that the scheme is still with the Improvement Trust,” said the shopkeepers.

The shopkeepers have also urged the Local Government Minister, Punjab, Manoranjan Kalia to look into the matter, so that the market scheme is handed over to Patiala MC for proper upkeep of the area.

Chairman of the Improvement Trust Inder Mohan Singh Bajaj said, “We have written hundreds of letters to the Patiala MC to takeover the Chhoti Baradari Market scheme but the civic authorities never responded to our requests.”

Patiala Municipal Commissioner Manjit Singh Narang said, “In wake of the requests made by the market shopkeepers, we have asked Patiala Improvement Trust authorities to handover the scheme to the Corporation but have failed to get a positive response.”

Patiala, February 27
More victims from across Punjab are getting in touch with the police to help them nab the accused who ran a flesh trade racket.

The high-profile accused allegedly blackmailed the victims into the flesh trade after filming them in objectionable condition. The sex racket was spread over all big cities of Punjab. The sex racket was spread till Dubai, sources say.

The accused ran a sex racket from a beauty parlour in Bathinda where the parlour caretaker, Sarbjeet Kaur lured girls to befriend the accused Maninder and Vajinder.

According to police the duo after giving them drug-laced drinks filmed these victims and then blackmailed them into the flesh trade. Sources said the police are trying to ascertain the role of many white collar people of Bathinda and other parts of Punjab and Chandigarh to establish their role in this high-profile racket, where the victims were sent as escorts with their clients. “Once the main accused is arrested, we would know to which other countries the girls were supplied to and whether they were paid or were just blackmailed,” they added.

In her statement to the police, a Ludhiana-based victim narrated how she was sent to Dubai and was also sent to customers in and outside Punjab, after being forced into this profession. She has said many other girls could have met the same fate, and efforts by the cops were on to identify the girls in the pictures and MMS available with them.

The police have recovered five to six MMS clips, as many videos and photographs of many girls, believed to be from other parts of Punjab. Sources said the kingpin Vijinder was so confident that when the Patiala police team raided his flat in Bathinda and returned to Patiala, he allegedly threatened Patiala cops of dire consequences.

“Following this threat we again went to Bathinda and raided the beauty parlour and slowly the entire case was in front of us,” said Passiana SHO Aman Pal Singh.

“Vajinder even the accused the police of killing his grandfather, who was bed ridden and ever since he is absconding,” said Aman Pal.

Police have arrested Maninder Singh and Sarabjeet Kaur, while the other accused are yet to be arrested. Those booked in the case include dismissed DSP Gurjit Singh declared PO in a murder case; his two sons Vajinder, Maninder and wife Jaspal Kaur.

Gurjit was dismissed some years back in a murder case.

Ludhiana, February 27
Taking an initiative to educate people against the stigma attached to epilepsy and to help people suffering from the disease, Sunita Dergalust, a clinical pharmacist from Los Angeles in USA, has made a short film featuring Boman Irani, which is being shown in various parts of India.

Dergalust was in Ludhiana yesterday to attend the 12th joint annual conference of the Indian Epilepsy Association and Indian Epilepsy Society, organised by the Department of Neurology at Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH).

"I was helped by the neurologists in the US and my director friend from Mumbai, Raj Kumar Hirani, in the making of the film. The film is in Hindi with English subtitles which will prove to be a great help in reaching across to millions suffering from epilepsy," said Dergalust.

An activist of the EPI Trust, an NGO working for epileptics, Sunita is also involved in a demonstration project funded by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Global Campaign against Epilepsy.

Further talking about her collaboration with the Medical Relief Foundation (MRF), an Indian NGO, Dergalust said an awareness campaign had been designed for the schoolteachers and police personnel who are at a loss while dealing with the epilepsy patients during seizures. "The students end up missing schools while cops mistake epileptics as alcoholics and addicts thereby putting them behind the bars.

Sanghol (Fatehgarh Sahib), February 27
Visitors to Sanghol Archeological Museum are dismayed at the lack of upkeep of the surroundings of the museum.

The reason, there are no sweepers, Class IV employees or safai karamcharis for past two months.

Visitors have urged the authorities to pay attention towards the unkempt surroundings of the museum. Visitors, including a bureaucrat wrote about the sorry state of affairs in the visitors’ diary of the museum during a recent visit.

Setup in 1990, the museum situated on the Chandigarh-Ludhiana Road, housing a number of archaeological findings of ancient civilization, is in a state of neglect for past few months.

The museum is a repository of terracotta articles, coins, seals and numerous other things mostly recovered during excavation in Sanghol village.

According to sources, an employee was deployed to keep surroundings of building clean on a part-time basis but he stopped coming two months back.

A resident of the area Swaran Singh said even foreign tourists like a woman photographer from Germany are dismayed at the sorry state of affairs at the museum.

Another resident Balbir Singh said though sculptures and other things are kept safely inside glass enclosures but rusty front doors, messy lawn, dull walls, broken lights leave every visitor with a bad impression. Director-Punjab Tourism, Hussan Lal said he would look into the matter. The museum would be upgraded soon, he added.