CAG confirms state’s poor fiscal health
Chandigarh, March 11
The report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on State Finances, laid in the Vidhan Sabha today and reviewing the finances of the state government during 2009-10, painted a sorry picture and a benchmark for the current year and the next.

Naresh Gujral clarifies remarks in RS
New Delhi, March 11
The SAD MP in the Rajya Sabha, Naresh Gujral, has clarified his comments made in the upper house yesterday to which the Congress had protested in the Punjab Assembly today. Gujral said the Congress was “misrepresenting” the facts.

Chandigarh, March 11
States today are no better than dignified municipal committees, declared the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal here today. He was replying to the debate on the Governor’s address in the Vidhan Sabha.

He argued that the Union of India had gradually taken away all rights from the states, shrinking the state list and leaving states to the mercy of the Centre. He strongly advocated decentralisation of planning and more financial autonomy. Badal has always opposed alleged interference of the Centre in the affairs of the states.

Speaking for nearly two hours, the Chief Minister said that the states could not decide their own agenda for development and had to follow the programs and policies of the Centre as grants and funds came from there and with riders. “Punjab for example sends 60 to 65 per cent of its earning to the Centre by way of taxes, but we get a pittance in return”.

The Chief Minister at one point smartly involved the Congress in supporting a resolution seeking a federal set-up in the country. The Leader of the Opposition, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal bailed out her party by suggesting that the scope of the resolution be enlarged to add other contentious issues.

The chief minister also responded to the unanimous resolutions adopted by the Haryana Vidhan Sabha today seeking early completion of Hansi - Butana Canal and seeking an early decision on Presidential reference on abrogating water sharing agreement by the previous Congress Government in Punjab. Badal said though Haryana is a brother state, Punjab has no spare water. “We will fight to preserve every single drop of water and to ensure the Satluj Yamuna Link Canal (SYL) is never made”.

Lashing out at the centre for what he called “discriminatory and arbitrary policies”, Badal asserted that though agriculture produce is a result of hard toil by the state’s farmers, the state cannot decide its sale price, which is determined by the Centre. States, he said, have no say in matters like fixing price of fertilizers, diesel etc that have a direct bearing on the people to whom state governments are answerable. He told the opposition that when states are helpless, there is no point in the treasury benches blaming the opposition or vice versa for inadequacies in governance.

Chandigarh, March 11
Why is the state government selling off prime public land opposite the Ludhiana mini-secretariat ? Is the SAD-BJP alliance in favour of imposing income tax on farmers ? And why are so many agitations by different sections of employees rocking the state?

They were some of the issues raised by the Opposition during Zero Hour today in the Vidhan Sabha.

Flaunting the official transcript of a speech delivered in Parliament by SAD Rajya Sabha member Naresh Gujral, in which the MP appears to support Agriculture Income Tax, Ajit Inder Singh Mofar wondered why other SAD MPs did not correct or interrupt him.

This brought the Chief Minister on his feet. While he would check with the MP and verify what happened, the CM declared that the ruling alliance was opposed to tax on the farm sector.

Darshan Singh Brar demanded that services of agitating temporary and ad hoc employees ought to be regularised.

A notification for sale of 8.5 acres of land belonging to the Irrigation Department, located opposite the Ludhiana Mini Secretariat, should be revoked, said Sukhpal Singh Khaira.

The land was worth several hundred crores and yet the state government wanted to dispose it off for a five star hotel. The government has no right to stay in office if it cannot work as a custodian of government or public property, he fumed.

The Industries and Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia demanded a unanimous resolution to oppose imposition of central excise on the garment, cycle and sports goods industries in the state.

The Leader of the Opposition Rajinder Kaur Bhattal insisted that zero Hour was not meant for ministers to make any point of order. The Speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon, however, held that the minister was responding to the question on employees raised by Darshan Singh Brar. Congress members later staged a walk-out in protest.

* 8.5 acres opposite Ludhiana mini secretariat valued at several hundred crores

* A sale notice has been issued by the government

* There is no urgency or public interest involved in the proposal, alleges Opposition

Chandigarh, March 11
Cost of sand and gavel in the state sparked a heated exchange in the Vidhan Sabha today, forcing the Chief Minister to intervene and assure that the state government would not allow building material costs to spiral upwards. A cabinet sub-committee, he informed the House, will look into the sand-mining contracts on Wednesday next week.

Opposition MLAs alleged that one kg of sand costs almost double the price of one kg of daal - supplied to BPL families under the subsidised Atta-Daal scheme - in Punjab. While daal is supplied at Rs 4 a kg, sand costs Rs 8 a kg, they said. They blamed the influential mining lobby, supported by the ruling alliance, for the high prices.

The Local Bodies and Industries Minister Manoranjan Kalia informed that during the past three financial years, an amount of Rs 122 crore has been received from mining contracts issued by the state government. The Congress MLA Jasbir Singh Khangura pointed out that this amount fell far short of the Rs 600 crore that had been projected by the SAD-BJP government with annual income pegged at Rs 200 crore.

“The State can forego its income from the mining contracts. We have to make building materials available at resaonable prices. We support housing and other construction activity. So we will make sure that sand and gravel remains within the reach of the common man,” assured the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

It started when the Local Bodies Minister claimed that minining contracts awarded during the present SAD-BJP regime were at much higher rates than during the previous Congress regime. He also made a comparison between Panchkula and Mohali and said that a tonne of sand in Panchkula was being sold for Rs 600, while the rate was Rs 250 in Mohali.

Independent member Charanjit Singh Channi suggested that the government should also fix the maximum sale price of sand and gravel at the time of auction of mininng contracts.

New Delhi, March 11
The SAD MP in the Rajya Sabha, Naresh Gujral, has clarified his comments made in the upper house yesterday to which the Congress had protested in the Punjab Assembly today. Gujral said the Congress was “misrepresenting” the facts.

Gujral, while providing copies of his statement made in the Rajya Sabha, pointed out that the Central Government was wanting to implement the general sales tax regime. In the House, he yesterday said “bring in the GST regime”. Gujral said he had promised that Punjab or any state would not object as long as their right to levy taxes was not curbed. “Why don’t you introduce state income tax on the lines of what is done in the USA?” he had asked in the House. Today, Gujral clarified, that all he wanted to say was that the GST regime being proposed by the Congress-led UPA had the provision to stop the states from implementing taxes and that is one of the objections of the opposition parties to the proposed GST regime. “Why does the Centre want to keep the taxes and levy them as it desires?” he asked, while questioning the logic of the Congress in stalling the state Assembly.

Gujral had also pointed out that 60 per cent of our population lived off agriculture. But our policies were anti-farmer. “The international prices are, at least, double that of the MSP that you are offering,” he told the Rajya Sabha. There will be a shortage of wheat in China because there has been a crop failure. 

Amritsar, March 11
The Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) will submit a comprehensive action plan to make the surroundings of the Golden Temple pollution free in the next two-three months.

Talking to The Tribune here today, PPCB executive engineer Kuldeep Singh said, “We are focusing on four factors that are contributing to pollution around the shrine — goldsmiths, hoteliers, the residential area around the temple and vehicular traffic.”

He said once the ongoing study was completed, they would be able to clearly spell out the level of pollution and measures to curb it effectively. He said they had already installed the devices which would enable them to know as to which gases (and in what quantity) were present in the air within 1 km radius around the shrine.

“We are also studying the number of tourists arriving at the temple daily besides the number of vehicles plying in the area.” He said they would draft the action plan in such a way that it would be acceptable to all, including local residents and traders.

Though the local administration in the past has initiated various measures like banning coal-run hearths being used by goldsmiths and providing them LPG connections, still a lot needs to be done to make the vicinity of the shrine smoke-free. Vehicular pollution is the biggest concern for the authorities.

While the number of private vehicles plying in the area is also high, the rickety auto-rickshaws running on adulterated fuel also pose a severe threat to the architectural marvel that the Golden Temple is. The administration had also tried to turn the area around the Golden Temple into a no-vehicle zone by introducing battery-operated vehicles to ferry pilgrims, but had to backtrack in view of the strong protests from local residents and traders. Similarly, the mushrooming hotels around the temple may be using LPG for cooking purposes but almost all of them, as also other commercial establishments, have diesel-run generators. In summers, these generators are used anywhere between four to 10 hours daily due to power cuts.

The high level of pollution is causing harm to miniature paintings and gold plating besides leading to corrosion and blackening of white marble. Its adverse effect can be seen on the gold plating on the outer walls of Akal Takht. In the past, the PPCB had found high levels of harmful nitrous oxide and sulphur dioxide in the ambient air.

Deputy Commissioner KS Pannu said they had already taken all measures that they could to check pollution and now they would ask the PPCB to provide them the latest study so that further steps could be initiated.

The SGPC, too, is modernising the kitchen alongside its langar hall in a bid to curb pollution. 

Amritsar, March 11
Agitating staff nurses have decided to postpone their ongoing protest for 15 days. They will return to work from tomorrow morning. The decision was taken after their meeting with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal at Chandigarh today. The Chief Minister assured them to remove the anomaly in their pay grades and announce it within two weeks.

Among others who were present in the meeting include Health Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla, Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary, Health, SC Agarwal and Satish Chandra.

“During the meeting, the Chief Minister has agreed in principle to remove the anomaly and revise the pay scales and allowances as per the central government norms,” said Raj Bedi Anand, general secretary of the Punjab Staff Nurses Association, while talking to this correspondent over the phone. She was a part of the delegation that met the Chief Minister.

Meanwhile, in a novel way to express their resentment, the protesting staff nurses today organised a path of Sukhmani Sahib on the premises of Guru Nanak Dev Hospital here. They recited the hymns from the holy scripture and prayed that the government listens to their genuine demands.

About 2,500 staff nurses and 500 nursing assistants in various government hospitals in Punjab were on an indefinite strike in protest against the “indifferent” attitude of the state government towards their demands. 

Amritsar, March 11
A delegation of Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) on Thursday met UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova in New York and apprised her about the discovery of “mass grave” of Sikhs in Hondh-Chillar village of Haryana.

Tejkaran Kaur Bains, SFJ youth coordinator, presented a memorandum to Bokova urging the UNESCO to preserve and manage the ruins of Hondh-Chillar as genocidal site under World Heritage Program. Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, legal adviser to SFJ, stated that in November 1984 “Sikh localities across India were attacked in a manner identical to Hondh-Chillar”. “However, as a well planned cover up, remains and ruins of almost all other such sites were either cleansed or rebuilt in order to purge the traces of genocidal attacks on Sikhs. To make sure that forlorn debris of Hondh-Chillar, a living paradigm of Sikh genocide, is not destroyed, we have approached the UNESCO to step in and preserve the remains.”

The Sikh body has also invited reputed archaeologists from Europe and North America who have worked on Jewish Holocaust sites and Armenian genocide sites for expert guidance in preserving the Hondh-Chillar site.

Fatehgarh Sahib, March 11
Teachers of the government-aided schools yesterday registered their protest for appointing examination controllers from government schools. In a press release issued by principals of the government-aided schools Ravinder Joshi, Dharminder Singh and Anju Kaura said it was surprising and discouraging for the government-aided schools of Punjab that lecturers from the government schools were appointed as the examination controllers.

Lecturers from the government schools have been appointed for the first time in the government-aided schools for the board examinations to be held this month. The principals said despite appointing the controller from the government schools, the principals of the government-aided schools would have to keep the question papers in their custody. The principals are also supposed to help the examination controllers for smooth conduct of the exams.

The decision has evoked resentment among the principals of the government-aided schools across the state, said the press release. Also the honorarium given to the principals for being the examination controllers would now be given to the lecturers from the government schools, said the principals. The step initiated by the government is discriminatory and also against the prestige of the government-aided schools, they said. Principal Ravinder Joshi said despite the fact that they had been conducting the exams peacefully for the past many years.

Chandigarh, March 11
The Civil Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), also laid in the Vidhan Sabha today, highlights how Scheduled Caste and other Backward Class students were denied cash incentive, encouragement award and free text books in the state.

The report also points out deficiencies in the functioning of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and points out the decline in enrollment in government schools and gaps in infrastructure.

Fictitious project proposals and inspection reports for contractual farming of medicinal plants resulted in fraudulent disbursement of Rs 86.23 lakh under a scheme sponsored by the National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB) in 2005.

The CAG report said that though the matter was referred to the state government in March 2010, no reply had been received by the auditors.

Most of the health centres were functioning without adequate infrastructure.

As many as 1,514 health centres did not have any toilet and there was no provision of water supply in 131 centres.

It also noted that only three blood storage units could be made operational out of the targeted 25 units.

It held that manpower was not only inadequate but also deployed irrationally.

The CAG report noted that in the Education Department, against a total demand of Rs 60.29 crore for schemes covering the period 2008-10, only Rs 25 crore was allotted.

It said SC girl students pursuing plus two education did not get any encouragement award of Rs 3,000 per year. SC girl students were also not provided with free textbooks in 2009-10.

As many as 22 per cent of the schools in the six districts, where test auditing was conducted by the CAG, had shortage of desks and 27 per cent of the schools did not have adequate class rooms and other basic requirements like play grounds and toilets. 

Bathinda, March 11
The hardline Sikh preacher, Sant Baljeet Singh Daduwal, citing a number of incidents related to clashes between the followers of Dera Sacha Sauda and Sikhs, shot off a letter to the Akal Takht Jathedar, Giani Gurbachan Singh, urging him to take immediate steps to “maintain the dignity” of the Sikh community.

The Bathinda police had rounded up Daduwal on Thursday morning to prevent him from reaching Dhalleke village in Moga district to join other hardline Sikh leaders visiting a gurdwara that was damaged during a clash between the dera followers and Sikhs on March 7. The police had released him in the late hours the same day.

Irked over his confinement, Daduwal, when he was in police custody, wrote a letter to Giani Gurbachan Singh.

Starting his three-page letter, Daduwal mentioned that it was his first letter to him. Accusing the Jathedar of not performing his duties towards the Sikhs as were required, Daduwal urged him to take immediate steps to maintain the dignity of Sikhs, who were allegedly confronting odd circumstances. Naming various sects, whose followers had a clash with Sikhs in the past, Daduwal categorically asked the Akal Takht Jathedar in his letter: “Do not remain confined to issuing Hukamnamas (edicts), get them implemented also.”

“When following your hukumnama, I along with a few Sikhs had come out of Gurdwara Jandalisar to visit Dhalleke village on Thursday. I was arrested by the police for no reason. Irked over the mental pain I underwent, I am writing you this letter. Hope you will take notice of it and lead the community from the front,” the letter states.

Amritsar, March 11
The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) led by Paramjeet Singh Sarna has stepped up its efforts towards withdrawal of the blacklist of Sikhs.

After holding a meeting with Union Minister of State for External Affairs on Thursday, Sarna met Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and sought withdrawal of the blacklist. According to Sarna, while Chidambaram responded positively to withdrawing names of NRI Sikhs, he expressed his inability to completely withdraw the blacklist. 

“The minister said these NRIs would have to furnish the details of their business, property and income tax. Besides, the DSGMC would have to take guarantee and recommend their names, after which the government would review each of the recommended cases one by one,” he added. 

Chandigarh, March 11
Dead men don’t tell tales, but circumstances do. A decade after two Kapurthala residents were sentenced to 10-year rigorous imprisonment in a murder case, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has gone through circumstances and other bits of evidence to hold the victim’s dying declaration was an outcome of revenge.

Acquitting the two, a Division Bench ruled: “There is a saying in the criminal law that human probabilities are always important than the witnesses. The witnesses may tell lie, but not circumstances.”

Kiran Kumar and his relative Sunita, alias Ashu, were booked by the police after another woman with the same name, Sunita, accused them of setting her afire in her dying declaration. The prosecution has claimed that Kiran Kumar had failed to keep his promise to marry the victim, Sunita; and solemnised marriage with the younger sister of appellant Sunita.

Referring to her declaration, Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice Arvind Kumar asserted: “In her statement, Sunita apprised the police of her love affair with Kiran and stated that despite an assurance given to her by Kiran, alias Gora, to marry her, he performed marriage by customs of chunni”.

She added that Gora and Ashu “burnt her in order to kill, so that she would not disclose her love affair with Gora to the newly wedded wife of Gora”.

Taking up an appeal filed through counsel Ashok Saini, the Bench observed: “From the material on record, it is no doubt true the deceased was very much hopeful of her marriage with appellant Kiran, but a day before the incident, the younger sister of appellant Sunita, alias Ashu, was married to Kiran…. We have no hesitation to conclude that Sunita (since deceased) took the drastic step to end her life. But under the spirit to take revenge from the appellants, she named them as the persons who set her on fire, obviously for the reason that appellant Kiran had solemnised marriage with the younger sister of appellant Sunita. Thus, this part of her dying declaration cannot be termed as voluntary, but is an outcome of the revenge fantasies, feeling of which was going on her mind at that time….”

“Further the apprehension that Sunita may not tell Bindu, Kiran’s wife, about her relations with him could be with Kiran alone and there was no occasion or reason for appellant Sunita to accompany him in the commission of the crime…. We conclude the death of Sunita was not homicidal.”

Malerkotla, March 11
The Amargarh police today recovered 25 quintals of poppy husk, a high-frequency walky-talky set, a .30-bore pistol and hundreds of bullets from a Verna car, which was detained near Malerkotla, and arrested one person, who was allegedly on parole from the jail in Ludhiana. The market cost of the seizure is estimated around Rs 8 lakh.

Amargarh DSP Gurpreet Singh Sikand said the police received a tip-off that a Verna car would be passing through the subdivision carrying the poppy husk.

He set up “nakas” on all points and finally trapped the car near a crossing situated on the periphery of the town on Amargarh Road. The police nabbed the driver of the car identified as Aman.

During the interrogation the accused said he brought the poppy husk from Kishangarh in Rajasthan and was going to some villages to distribute poppy husk among addicts. He reportedly bought the gunny bags at the rate of Rs 3,300 per bag.

The police arrested him under 25/54/59 of the NDPS and 15/61/85 of the Arms Act and impounded the vehicle. Many fake driving licenses, registration copies of vehicles and arm licenses were recovered from his possession.