Farmers’ Suicides
Congress walkout over issue of relief to kin 
Chandigarh, March 15
Farmers’ suicides in Punjab have come to haunt the SAD-BJP Government with the Congress virtually cornering the ruling alliance on its failure to honour its own policy of compensating families of farmers who committed suicides due to farm indebtedness.

Chandigarh, March 15
Money knows no enemies. Following this dictum legislators, who seemed to be sworn enemies since the start of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha Budget session, displayed unique camaraderie today in passing bills increasing the salaries of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker as well as the Leader of the Opposition.

Members from both the Treasury and Opposition benches also debated on ways and means to make payments due to them easier besides demanding car and house loan facilities and laptops.

All this occurred in the last 15 minutes of today’s session after SAD’s Virsa Singh Valtoha demanded that Rs 2 lakh per annum due to legislators be credited to their bank accounts as agreed earlier and that they should not be asked to submit oil receipts. SAD’s Mohan Lal got up to request that the House extend the facility of car and house loans to legislators.

Leader of the Opposition Rajinder Kaur Bhattal supported Mohan Lal’s plea and said it should be done in this session only. Speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon also expressed a similar sentiment. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tikshan Sud then got up to assure the members that all these issues would be sorted out following a meeting and that the suggestions would be passed in this session itself.

After the turn of the Treasury benches, Congress legislator Makhan Singh suggested the House should provide laptops to all legislators adding the issue had been discussed in the last session also. The Speaker then bought the issue to the notice of Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal who assured him that this issue would also be taken care of in this session only.

Following the promise of this largesse, the House took up the issue of increasing the salaries of both the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker through a bill, which was passed immediately. The bill mentioned a financial implication of Rs 6 lakh per annum leaving aside the increase in the limit of the daily allowance and free travel allowance. The salaries of both the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker have been nearly doubled through the passing of the bill though the exact details were not provided.

The Speaker was in his element immediately after his salary was increased and asked the House whether it wanted to increase the salary of the Leader of the Opposition. Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, on her part, said that was up to the House only saying the issue of her salary was being taken up last. The bill was, however, passed with hardly 30 seconds to spare before the House adjourned for the day. Bhattal has been given a Rs 3 lakh per annum increase excluding the increase in the daily allowance and free travel facility. 

Bathinda, March 15
The Punjab unit of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has sent a list of 40 names to the party high command for approval while for the selection of the remaining candidates, panels are being set up as the party has decided to contest all 117 Assembly seats in the state on its own.

National general secretary and in charge of Punjab BSP affairs Narender Kashyap said here today that there was no possibility at this stage of forming an alliance with any political outfit as the BSP would contest the elections on its own agenda. He said in its agenda, the BSP, besides taking care of the interests of the Dalits and the backward classes, would include issues relating to unemployed youth, employees, labourers, small farmers and traders.

Kashyap, along with state president of the BSP Avtar Singh Karimpuri visited the city and participated in a state-level workers’ conference organised to celebrate the 77th birthday of founder of the BSP Kanshi Ram outside the mini secretariat here.

Kashyap said the BSP favoured 33 per cent reservation for women in the state Assemblies and Parliament but with 33 per cent quota for Dalit women within the 33 per cent reservation for women. Earlier, addressing the gathering, Kashyap flayed the SAD-BJP government saying the law and order situation in the state was deteriorating day by day.

Karimpuri asked the Dalits to fulfil the dreams of Kanshi Ram by forming a BSP government in Punjab in the coming Assembly elections. He flayed the Punjab Budget, saying that it was directionless.He said the SAD-BJP government had failed to provide any solid scheme for the Dalits in the Budget. 

Chandigarh, March 15
The Opposition allegation that village heads (sarpanches) were elected to their posts forcibly even though they did not enjoy the confidence of the village committee members (panches) was given credence today with the SAD-BJP government bringing in an amendment to the Panchayati Raj Act proposing sarpanches can no longer be removed from their posts by a majority decision after two years in office.

The earlier Panchayati Raj Act allowed the passing of a no-confidence motion against sarpanches after two years of election to the post. With the two-year period coming to an end, the government today amended the act removing this clause. Successive governments have tried to ensure the election of their supporters as sarpanches. The SAD-BJP government had earlier done away with direct election of sarpanches and brought in a system where the sarpanch was elected by a majority vote of the panches. The system, however, allowed for a recall of the sarpanch after two years and the government understandably does not want to leave that window open in an election year.

Participating in the debate on the bill, Congress legislator Sukhpal Singh Khaira claimed the government was bringing in the amendment because it feared that thousands of sarpanches would be changed in the coming months. He said it was strange that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, who always talked about upholding democratic rights, was barring the removal of sarpanches even if they indulged in corruption or did not perform.

Congress legislator Kewal Dhillon claimed the bill, if passed, would create animosity in villages.

Meanwhile, debating amendments brought in on another bill calling for taxing all institutions situated outside the municipal limits, Congress legislators objected to the same. Congress legislators Ripjit Brar and Ajit Inder Singh Mofar claimed that it was strange that the government was terming the Budget tax free but was aiming to tax small and big businesses like marriage palace owners, garages, godowns and other commercial establishments situated outside the municipal limits. CM Parkash Singh Badal said only a small tax of Rs 1 per foot would be charged and that the tax would not be levied on school buildings or dairies and poultry farms.

Congress legislator Sukhpal Singh Khaira objected to the passing of a third bill ---- amending the Punjab Technical University Act. He said the bill proposed giving more powers to a Vice-Chancellor who was an RSS pracharak and had served as a placement officer at Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. The bill was, however, passed.

Chandigarh, March 15
Farmers’ suicides in Punjab have come to haunt the SAD-BJP Government with the Congress virtually cornering the ruling alliance on its failure to honour its own policy of compensating families of farmers who committed suicides due to farm indebtedness.

The Opposition today staged a walkout from the Vidhan Sabha during zero hour accusing the government of double speak on the issue.

The Congress had come to the Vidhan Sabha prepared to take on the government for its failure to include any compensation for families of suicide victims in the Budget presented by Finance Minister Upinderjit Kaur yesterday. During this Budget session itself, in reply to a question, the government had said it had formulated a policy to grant a compensation of Rs 2 lakh to families of suicide victims and 16 families had been paid this amount so far.

Among other issues raised during zero hour, Sukhpal Khaira (Congress) wanted to know why the Budget did not have any provision for the families of suicide victims as per the government’s policy. He asked the government to reconfirm if there was such a policy in existence or if there was none then why was the House misled during question hour on an earlier occasion ?

Khaira also wanted to know if the government had any information on how many suicides were reported in Punjab during the last 10 years. He then read out a report prepared by Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana, which stated that 1,256 suicides were reported from Bathinda and 984 from Sangrur. He said if a survey was conducted the number would cross 50,000 across the state.

Leader of the Opposition Rajinder Kaur Bhattal took over from there and demanded that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal should make a statement to clarify.

Badal, who is not obligated to reply, however decided to speak on the issue.

Instead of a direct reply, he blamed the Centre for ills of the farmers saying that the neither the minimum support price (MSP) nor the input costs were determined by the states. He suggested a resolution be brought in the House demanding the implementation of the Swaminathan formula to determine the MSP. He also addressed some other issue raised by the Congress.

Not satisfied with his answer, the Congress decided to walk out shouting slogans against the government. Before walking out, the Congress also raised the issue of speech given by SAD MP Naresh Gujral in the Rajya Sabha demanding the imposition of income tax on agriculture. Ajit Inder Singh Mofar read out relevant passage from the original speech.

The Chief Minister said Gujral had already clarified that he had been misquoted. SAD President Sukhbir Badal too said the party would always oppose any move to tax agriculture. Sukhbir also assured the House that Gujral would clarify his position on the floor of the Rajya Sabha. Bhattal later said her party would wait for two days before raking up the Gujral issue again.

Several other issues were raised during zero hour. Sunil Jakhar wanted the government to settle issues with the agitating municipal employees at Abohar as the entire state was stinking as a result of the strike. Rana Sodhi wanted the cases of attempt to murder, registered against a protesting teacher, be withdrawn. Avtar Brar wanted a clarification on what he said was contradictory stand by the father-son due on Gujral issue.

Chandigarh, March 15
The Punjab Vidhan Sabha today passed a resolution allowing the state government to approach the Centre to bring back black money transferred to foreign banks through illegal means.

The resolution was passed by voice vote after the Congress objected to the manner in which it had been framed. CLP leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal had demanded that besides passing the resolution, a house committee should be formed to look into all scams, which had occurred in the state. She referred to the selling off of prime government land to the Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences in this regard.

The resolution, which was moved by CM Parkash Singh Badal and supported by Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia, saw the latter speaking at length on the scams that he claimed had occurred during the UPA rule.

He also claimed that black money had started being deposited in banks in Switzerland following the Bofors deal in which Rs 60 crore had been given to middlemen.

Kalia claimed that Rs 70 lakh crore of the Indian money was lying in banks abroad and that this money could be brought back to the country in case the Union Government ratified the United Nations Convention Against Corruption treaty. He said instead of doing this, the Union Finance Minister was trying to obfuscate the issue.

Rajpura, March 15
Anganwari workers, from Rajpura and nearby villages, today burnt an effigy of Punjab Finance Minister Upinderjit Kaur for not announcing the anticipated hike in honorarium.

Union leaders of workers, Sunita Rani and Jaswinder Kaur from Rajpura, led the protest from the office of the Child Development Project Officer (CDPO), Rajpura, till the ITI Chowk.

Around 100 workers blocked the road and raised slogans against the state government for not announcing the expected hike in their honorarium from Rs 800 to Rs 1,600.

Sunita Rani, addressing the workers, alleged that influential people, including VIP’s and politicians managed to get expected hikes in their salaries but hardworking people like them failed to get anything.

“We will soon intensify our agitation and fight till the government ensures hike in honorarium,” said Sunita Rani.

She said earlier the anganwari workers were getting Rs 2,300 per month which included Rs 1,500 from the Central Government and Rs 800 from the state. However, the Central Government has doubled the amount to Rs 3,000 and workers would get the revised honorarium (Rs 3,800) from April 1.

“We demand increase in state government’s share from Rs 800 to Rs 1600,” Sunita said.

The workers said other states in the country had increased the salaries of anganwari workers and other staff. The workers are also demanding grade three status for anganwari workers and grade four for the helpers. There are around 52,000 anganwari workers in Punjab fighting to get increased honorarium.

Jalandhar, March 15
The Excise and Taxation Department has imposed a penalty of Rs 43 lakh on former Kapurthala district BJP President Sham Sunder Aggarwal’s company for evading VAT of over Rs 21 lakh for the assessment year 2007-08.

In a recent order, Excise and Taxation Officer-cum Designated Officer, Phagwara, Harmesh Lal has directed Aggarwal’s PK and Company located at new Sabzi Mandi in Kapurthala to deposit Rs 64,26,230 with the department for evading VAT.

In his four-page order, Harmesh Lal stated the dealer’s son, Sumeet Aggarwal, along with advocate Rakesh Julka and accountant of the firm Ashutosh, appeared during hearing of the case on February 7 this year.

Harmesh Lal stated in his order that the person had changed the returns manipulatively which were not found fed to the computer system. Hence these returns were rejected and the data fed in the computer on the basis of the original returns was considered and taken for assessment.

However, Sham Sunder Aggarwal, at present BJP councillor from ward number 15 in the Kapurthala Municipal Corporation, alleged that the directions issued by the department were politically motivated.

He said some of the local BJP leaders ‘were jealous of him and the order was issued at their behest”. He said he would appeal to the DETO, Jalandhar, against the order of the ETO, Kapurthala.

Chandigarh, March 15
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Jagdish Sahni yesterday embarrassed his party colleague and Health Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla by claiming that corruption had taken place in the purchase of ultrasound machines by the Health Systems Corporation.

Sahni persisted with asking supplementary questions when the Health Minister answered his query regarding the total number of such machines and how many of them were functioning.

Laxmi Kanta had claimed that the machines were purchased from a German company after tenders had been called and three companies had bid for the order.

Sahni asked the Health Minister to also specify whether one year of the warranty period of the machines had expired because they were not installed in time.

The Health Minister assured him that the warranty would come into effect once the machines were installed.

Not satisfied with the answer, Sahni alleged that there was some “hera-pheri” in the deal.

Laxmi Kanta retorted that the problem lay somewhere else, saying Sahni was still angry over the registration of a case under the PNDT Act against his relatives.

Congressmen also jumped into the fray with Sunil Jakhar claiming BJP legislature party leader Manoranjan Kalia could only give the answer Sahni wanted. Congress legislator Avtar Singh Brar claimed that since Sahni had alleged corruption in the purchase of the equipment, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal should get the issue inquired into.

Laxmi Kanta tried to give an answer but Speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon asked the CM to respond following which the CM said he would get the norms under which the machines had been purchased checked. 

Jalandhar, March 15
Agriculture is rapidly on the decline as its contribution in the state’s gross domestic product (GDP) has gone down significantly in the past few years.

In 2009-10, the contribution of agriculture and allied activities to the state’s economy came down to 24.92 per cent from 32.53 per cent in 2004-05. About 8 per cent fall in the share of this sector in the state’s economy in the past six fiscal years clearly indicates that the rural economy is in a bad shape. Its other consequence is a fall in the average net income of the farm community.

SS Johl, an eminent agricultural economist, said: “It is worrisome that there is a constant fall in the contribution of the agriculture to the state’s economy.” He alleged that the state government had failed to put its best foot forward to promote research and extension work in this sector.

“At least Rs 50 crore should have been earmarked for research work only”, he added. About 60-65 per cent of the people in the state live off the agriculture sector in the state. But their share in the economy is just 24.92 per cent, which means there is a lot of surplus manpower in this sector. The fall in the share has been mainly attributed to deteriorating soil health, a fall in water table and to some other factors.

Agriculture and allied activities, known as the primary sector, are in fact, growing at the slowest pace as compared to other sectors.

It grew at 1.06 per cent in 2009-10, 2.40 per cent in 2008-09, 3.89 per cent in 2007-08, at 2.89 per cent in 2006-07 and at less than 1 per cent in 2005-06. But the state grew at 7.84 per cent in 2009-10 if one is to go by figures available in the documents distributed at the time of the presentation of the Budget by Finance Minister Upinderjit Kaur.

However, the contribution of the agriculture and allied sectors to the state’s growth was just 1.06 per cent. Industrial sector grew at 11.99 per cent and the services sector at 9.10 per cent.

The other worrisome development is that there has been an insignificant growth in the contribution of the tertiary sector, also known as the services sector, in the state’s GDP. It increased to 43.53 per cent in 2009-10 from 42.69 per cent in 2004-05. Less than 1 per cent increase in the contribution of the services sector, which is a flourishing in most parts of the country, in five fiscal years reflects that the state’s is lagging behind in modernising its economy. 

Patiala, March 15
Rampant use of loudspeakers in the city has severely affected people, particularly students preparing for their examinations. While the district administration claims to have banned this menace, a large number of loudspeakers are in use in the residential areas, thus making it difficult for students to concentrate on their studies.

In spite of complaints in this regard the use of loudspeakers is going on without being challenged by the district administration authorities. Some of the lottery vendors have put up temporary stands and have affixed loudspeakers above their stalls, which is causing a lot of disturbance to students living in the vicinity. “The whole show starts in the morning and continues uninterrupted till late evening. We cannot study like this,” said Rashmi Gupta, who is preparing for the Matric exams. “The district administration and the police should try to solve this problem as our requests to the stall owners have fallen on deaf ears,” she added.

On the other hand the district administration has banned the use of loudspeakers in the vicinity of examination centres and also in the residential areas. Organisers of various festivals and some roadside vendors are using the devices near schools, even when examinations are in progress, and other places blatantly violating rules and causing disturbance. “I had my practical exam on Monday and all my efforts to concentrate on my practical file were thrown out of gear by the loud voice of lottery vendors, who were selling on the spot tickets,” rued residents of Sewak Colony said.

One can spot loudspeakers blaring at the busy road junctions, roadsides and residential colonies particularly in the heart of the city and also near certain examination centers. The devices are used in these areas irrespective of time or day. “The devices cause noise pollution, which has taken its toll on the students. The children are finding it difficult to concentrate,” many parents complained. While the police personnel in the city are yet to take any concrete action to control the menace, Patiala DC Dipinder Singh has already issued prohibition orders on the use of loudspeakers. Senior police officers said they would take necessary action. 

Patiala, March 15
Auction of the 25 shop-cum-offices on the Jail road fetched the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority (PUDA), a whopping Rs 55.11 crore today.

Against the reserve price of Rs 77,751 per square metre, the minimum and maximum bid was Rs 2.05 lakh and Rs 2.42 lakh respectively. Giving details, Estate Officer of the PUDA, JP Sharma, said area of each SCO was 101 square metre.

“The auction received a thumping response from the bidders. The total reserve price was Rs 19.63 crore (approximately) for all SCO’s and PUDA sold them at Rs 55.11 crore,” he said.

A while back, six SCOs at the City Centre were auctioned by the Patiala Improvement Trust for Rs 1.9 crore, whereas the total reserve price fixed was just Rs 93 lakh. Likewise, some months back, the auction of the commercial sites at PDA-Omaxe City had registered almost 300 per cent increase in the reserve price. Against the reserve price of Rs 30,000 per sq yd, many SCOs were sold off at Rs 1.15 lakh per sq yd.

DGM (Sales and Marketing), Omaxe Limited, Manoj Suri, said the response to auction of SCOs, conducted by PUDA indicated that demand for commercial property in Patiala would increase in the days to come.

“We will be holding an auction for selling 60 shops at PDA-Omaxe City on April 5 and 6. In the wake of the present scenario of the realty sector, we are hopeful that our auction will receive an overwhelming response from the interested bidders,” said Suri.

Rajinder Bansal of Shamsons Colonisers Private Limited said such a response to the PUDA auction was a clear indicator that the property boom of Ludhiana and Amritsar, had hit Patiala. “Earlier, demand for commercial property in Patiala had gone down, in the recent past the market has picked up. Surely, the real estate business is likely to gain momentum in Patiala,” he said.

Amritsar, March 15
Sohan Singh, alias Sohanjit Singh (56), an alleged member of the Khalistan Commando Force (Panjwar group), died under mysterious circumstances in police custody on Monday. While the police maintained that he had committed suicide, members of his family suspect foul play. A judicial probe has been ordered by the District Sessions Judge into the incident.

He was arrested by the State Special Operation Cell (Intelligence Wing) recently in connection with a case pertaining to the planting of RDX in a Maruti car in a busy market near the Circuit House here on May 8 last.

The deceased’s brother-in-law, Harbans Singh, termed the death as murder and claimed that Sohan Singh had been implicated in a false case. “We received got a call in the morning that Sohan Singh has committed suicide. When we approached the authorities, no one could clear us that how and under what circumstances he took this step. He has been killed by the police during interrogation for a case with which he had no connection. We demand a judicial inquiry into the incident,” he said.

He added that: “Moreover, when the news of an RDX-laden car came into light, Sohan Singh was bedridden at that time as his left leg was operated upon and he could not even move,” he added.

Defying this, Manminder Singh, AIG (Counter Intelligence) said at 7.15 am, Sohan Singh urged to perform ‘path’ and demanded a piece of cloth to cover his head, which was provided to him. “Later, he was found hanging from a ceiling fan of the barrack with the same cloth. He was rushed to the Civil Hospital. Later, he was referred to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead,” he said.

Meanwhile, under the supervision of Judicial Magistrate (First Class ) Pooja Andhotra and Manminder Singh, a postmortem was conducted at Government Medical College, the report of which is awaited.

Chandigarh, March 15
State Agriculture Minister Suchha Singh Langah today reluctantly agreed to form a nodal agency to monitor the sale of BT cotton seeds in the state after the intervention of Vidhan Sabha Speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon following a calling attention motion laid in the House by Congress legislator Ripjit Brar.

Brar claimed that BT cotton had scripted a success story for state farmers with high yields and huge profit margins ensuring that the area under the cotton crop was likely to increase from the present 5.33 lakh hectares to 7 lakh hectares.

Brar claimed that no proper arrangement was being done to procure BT cotton seeds and that farmers from the state were scouting for a good quality seed in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat. He said not only this, the negligence on the part of the government towards the cotton ginning industry had resulted in major groups, including Vardhman, Abhishek group and Saluja group.

Langah, while replying to the calling attention motion, said the government had made preparations to ensure the availability of 63 lakh packets of BT cotton seeds to state farmers. He said flying squads would also be formed to ensure that dealers sold only quality seed. When asked by Kahlon whether the government would also form a nodal agency to monitor the sale and the purchase of cotton seeds, he said the government would do so.

Chandigarh, March 15
The Punjab Vidhan Sabha today passed a resolution to mourn the loss of lives in tsunami that hit Japan and to show solidarity with the victims of the disaster.

The resolution was moved by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal just after the Question Hour saying that the devastation caused in Japan needed to be taken up in the House.

After the House unanimously adopted the resolution that expressed grief over the developments, including the radiation leak, a two-minute silence was observed after which the House was adjourned for 20 minutes as a mark of respect.

The same issue was raised by the Opposition yesterday, but the Speaker had asked that the resolution be brought the next day on account of the Budget presentation.

The Vidhan Sabha saw several developments today that included jibes between the Treasury benches and the Opposition. To show his authority, the CM told Sunil Jakhar of the Congress that if he wanted to get the issue of his constituency resolved, he should meet him and not Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal or BJP leader Manoranjan Kalia. “You can meet them, but your work will not be done. Only I can resolve your problems,” he added.

Similarly, when Avtar Brar of the Congress remarked that the CM had a style of functioning similar to a sarpanch of a village, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tikshan Sud called it an insult and wanted the House to bring in a privilege motion. But both Speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon and the Chief Minister overruled it saying it didn’t call for such a harsh measure.