Khatkar Kalan, March 22
A copy of The Tribune soaked with the blood of the revolutionaries and dated March 25, 1931, is the centre of attraction for visitors at the museum dedicated to Bhagat Singh here.

An urn made of glass contains the ashes of the martyr collected by Amar Kaur, a sister of the martyr, from Hussaniwala a day after the three freedom fighters were cremated on the banks of the Sutlej. Also exhibited is the pen used by the British judge to sign the black warrant.

There does appear renewed interest in Bhagat Singh as the museum now receives a steady stream of visitors not only from this region but from across the country.

His literature too is a big hit and people buy books and other items from here now. Earlier, only a few people came here, revealed the caretaker. All the approach roads to the village have been re-carpeted, the house of the martyr has been repainted and spruced up.

Everything is spic and span and it lives to its status of a model village. Posters and buntings added to the festive look in the village.

Farmers of the village have never had it so good with over 120 acres being taken on rent by various political outfits for holding the rallies tomorrow. The going rate is Rs 25, 000 per acre and an interesting aspect is that all the owners have been paid the money upfront. “

“Earlier, we had to run after the revenue officials to get our dues,” revealed a farmer.

Today even the policemen deployed here were seen paying their tributes and scores of them also bought literature from the museum.

The village today resembled a virtual garrison with senior police and civil officials overseeing the preparations. Police has been requisitioned from all over the state for the event and arrangements are being supervised by an ADGP. Two helipads have also been made, one for the official state function and the other for the Congress.

Chandigarh, March 22
After failing to adequately substantiate “fudging” in the state budget for days together, the Congress has finally got its act together to claim that an amount of Rs 1,150 crore has been fudged even as it said the government had gone in for a back door taxation of Rs 500 crore, nullifying claims of a tax-free budget.

Punjab Pradesh Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh had in a debate on the budget claimed that the same was fudged and had demanded a white paper on the issue besides amendment of the document. However, the party had failed to substantiate its charges effectively.

Now, former state Planning Board deputy chairman RR Bhardwaj has come out with figures to substantiate the Congress’ allegations. He claims that the SAD-BJP government has artificially increased revenue by showing more revenue expected from centrally-sponsored schemes than ever possible and reduced expenditure, particularly power subsidy.

Bhardwaj says money likely to be received as central grants has been deliberately inflated to reduce revenue deficit. He says last year the government had revised it estimates of money available from central grants from Rs 998 crore to Rs 723 crore. He said this revision had taken place because the State did not have the resources to pledge a matching grant for these schemes. Bhardwaj said it was strange that a government, which had revised its estimates for central grants last year, had now doubled the same to Rs 1,468 crore.

Claiming that fudging of Rs 700 crore had taken place in figures relating to Central schemes, the Congress leader, like former Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal, claimed the power subsidy Bill had also been fudged. Bhardwaj said the power subsidy, which had been revised to Rs 3,492 crore last year after being estimated at Rs 3,120 crore in last year’s budget, had now been reduced to Rs 3,020 crore. He claimed fudging of around Rs 450 crore had been done on this account also.

Bhardwaj also claimed that Finance Minister Upinderjit Kaur had wrongly claimed that last year’s plan utilisation would be 97 per cent. He said the government had achieved a utilisation of only 58 per cent till December 31 last year despite reducing the plan size by Rs 220 crore. He said this Rs 220 crore was the money sacrificed on account of Centrally-sponsored schemes.

The Congress leader also claimed that contrary to claims, the government had levied a burden of Rs 500 crore on people by enhancing the fee for providing basic infrastructure services in areas bounded by town planning. He said this fee had been increased by up to nine times for commercial properties and up to five times for residential properties. He added that this measure had been passed clandestinely on February 2 without putting it up for debate in the budget.

New Delhi, March 22
Top Indian golfer Jeev Milkha Singh’s coach Amritinder Singh was today forced to remove his turban by security officials for the second time at the Milan airport where he had to endure a painful ordeal last week.

Amritinder, who was travelling with Jeev for the Sicillian Open, was rudely told on March 15 by Milan airport security officials that he could either remove the turban or not board the flight. Despite the expression of “regret” from Italy on that episode, the security officials of the same airport today asked Amritinder to remove his turban or miss the flight, which left Jeev and his coach stunned. Amritinder showed a letter of apology from the Italian Golf Federation on what happened last week but to no avail. “I told the security official --- who incidentally was the same one who had made me remove my turban last week and put it in a shoe tray --- that the European Union rules say that I cannot be asked to remove my turban but it can be patted down.

However, he (securityman) said that he could not follow the rule as he needed to see what was inside," Amritinder said. — PTI

Amritsar, March 22
Expressing his reservation over the SGPC Budget 2011-12 to be presented on March 24, SAD (1920) Vice-President Raghbir Singh Rajasansi today accused the SGPC of resorting to unnecessary expenses and recovering excess funds from gurdwaras in violation of the Gurdwara Act, causing losses to 42 gurdwaras, including the Golden Temple.

Addressing a press conference here today, Rajasansi said he had written letters to the Union Home Minister, the Sikh Gurdwara Judicial Commission, the Gurdwara Election Commission and the SGPC Secretary in this regard. He attributed the revelation to a copy of the supplementary budget sent to SGPC members for a prior information.

He said in the proposed SGPC Budget, the General Board’s budget is Rs 43.83 crore while the total income of the board is Rs 26.18 crore. “To compensate this loss, Rs 9 crore has come from old savings while excess funds to the tune of Rs 8.65 crore are being recovered from gurdwaras coming under Section 85, including the Golden Temple. This despite the fact that as per the Gurdwara Act, only 10 per cent of a gurdwara’s income can go to the General Board,” he claimed.

Similarly, Rajasansi claimed that while the existing SGPC-run educational institutions were running in losses, instead of trying to bring them in profit, it was going to spend another Rs 9 crore on opening new public schools. He claimed that for educational fund, too, an excess burden of Rs 6.5 crore was being put on gurdwaras, which was wrong.

On the other hand, SGPC Secretary Dalmegh Singh denied the charge that the gurdwaras were suffering losses. He said the SGPC was opening new educational institutions following the community’s demand.

Jalandhar, March 22
Former Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal today received a shot in the arm when two members of the SGPC of Jalandhar district and a former senior Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer joined his camp.

Senior SAD leader and SGPC member from Nakodar Gurmeet Daduwal, along with a few office- bearers of the SAD (Nakodar circle unit), today switched loyalty to Manpreet.

The other SGPC member who joined hands with Manpreet was Ranjit Singh Daroli Kalan.

Daduwal, who is also a member of the SAD working committee and Punjab Subordinate Services Selection Board (PSSSB), has clout in SAD circles in the Nakodar belt.

He had contested from the Nakodar constituency on the SAD ticket in 1997 and 2002 Assembly elections. However, the SAD had preferred veteran Akali leader Kuldeep Singh Wadala over him and denied him the ticket in the 2007 elections.

At a press conference organised by Manpreet Badal at the residence of MLA, Jalandhar Cant, Jagbir Singh Brar, Daduwal said he had decided to join Manpreet as there was a qualitative downfall both in the leadership and policies of the SAD in the past few years since the change of guard at top levels.

Similarly, another SAD leader and SGPC member from Adampur, Ranjit Singh, also announced that he was joining Manpreet during the latter’s visit to Adampur today.

Manpreet’s group today also witnessed the entry of a former senior officer into its fold. Sat Paul joined him after resigning from the post of Chief Commissioner, Income Tax, Uttarakhand. Sat Paul, who is a native of Kartarpur town, Jalandhar, resigned from his post 29 months prior to his retirement.

Ludhiana, March 22
Prof Hazara Singh(89), a former Head of the Department of Journalism, Languages and Culture, PAU (Ludhiana), was barely 10 years old when Bhagat Singh was hanged. But the martyrdom had then electrified the youth and he was no exception.

“My proximity with Bhagat Singh’s family, especially his paternal uncles, Swaran Singh and Ajit Singh, brought me close to his ideology,” he added.

He further said: “I was awarded a scholarship which was, however, withdrawn in 1943 following my participation in the Quit India Movement. But nothing deterred me from imbibing revolutionary ideas.”

He said: “Bhagat Singh carried books and not bombs in his hands as I have mentioned in my book “Freedom Struggle Against Imperialism”. He was not a terrorist but believed in using coercive force to protest against any wrongdoing and injustice.”

None of the governments, however, realised the meaning of equality, fraternity and liberty, he lamented. “Neither the state nor the Central Governments have done anything productive for the families of the three martyrs; but this year being a pre-election year, every party is anxious to claim ownership over them,” he sarcastically added.

Ferozepur, March 22
The martyrdom of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev on March 23, 1931, laid the foundation for the independence of the country.

Every year, functions are held in every nook and corner of the country to pay tributes to the national heroes by the leaders of almost all the political parties of Punjab. However, the national heroes have been made a channel by the politicians to strike an emotional chord with the people to fetch votes instead of preserving the things which remain associated with them.

Ram Gopal Sharma

In Ferozepur, known as ‘Shaheedon Ki Dharti’, a building, which was reportedly used by Shaheed Bhagat Singh and his associates for making bombs and holding secret meetings, has been lying in a bad shape.

The leaders of Punjab could not find enough time as well as funds to preserve the two-storeyed building, located at Toori Bazar, which can collapse any time. The first floor of the building was used by Gaya Parshad, an associate of Bhagat Singh, who practised medicine and the second floor was used by them for making bombs and to evolve a strategies to fight the British.

Bhagat Singh also got his hair cut from a barber, Gajjanand, who ran a shop, located in front of the building, to escape the police net after killing Saunders, a British police officer, to avenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai.

Now, the upper portion of the dilapidated building is occupied by a family while the two shops on the ground floor are used by a businessman dealing in grocery. The third shop has been turned into a store by another businessman. The building is in the possession of a local trust.

Kulbir Singh Sidhu, who remained Commissioner of Ferozepur division in 2005-06 and tried to preserve the building, said, “I made efforts to get the building declared as a national monument. However, due to lack of interest on the part of successive state governments, it could not get that status.” He said even a team of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and Surinder Pal Singh, Director, National Museum, visited the building and got an offer from the trustees saying they could transfer it to the government if it is converted into a national monument.

Vijay Sharma, a local businessman, whose father Ram Gopal Sharma served food to Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev by hiding it in a school bag, when he was just eight years old, said it was unfortunate that neither the Punjab government nor the Central government had shown any respect to the relic to preserve it for posterity.

He said his father Ram Gopal Sharma, who died last year, waited for the memorial of the national heroes to come up in that building till he breathed his last. He said the building could still be declared a national monument, if the government make efforts in this regard.

Ferozepur DC KK Yadav said if the claims were found to be true, efforts would be made to preserve the building.

Jalandhar, March 22
State Health Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla today said that to strengthen the public healthcare sector, the Health Department had decided to recruit 750 new doctors this year. Chawla was here to preside over a state-level function organised on the occasion of World Tuberculosis Day.

Talking to mediapersons, she said these doctors would be given permanent appointment in the PCMS cadre.

Sources said the department had decided to recruit doctors this year as new posts had been created since a large number of health centres had been upgraded during the past two or three years.

In another major decision, she said the department had decided that two doctors would be available in the emergency wings of hospitals against the present norm of one doctor at a time.

In his address, Satish Chandra, Principal Secretary, Health, said a high-end laboratory, meant for the microscopic examination of the sputum of suspected TB patients, had been opened at Patiala and would start functioning this year. A new nursing school would be opened in Amritsar this year.

As many as 81 doctors and paramedics from across the state were honoured at the function for their services during the dengue outbreak last year. Twenty professionals working under the Revised National Tuberculosis Programme were also honoured.

Amritsar, March 22
There seems to be no end in sight to the Khalsa College management’s woes over its proposal to convert the historic college into a private university. After college teachers, old students, social and political groups, now a section of people, who claim to have donated their land to the college, are on the warpath against the move.

Residents of Kot Khalsa village led by Major Mohinder Singh Sarkaria and Sawender Singh today announced that they would move the Punjab and Haryana High Court against the proposal. They also warned the state government that if the proposal to convert the college into a university was passed in the Punjab Assembly they would gherao the residence of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. They claimed that in lieu of the land donated by their ancestors in 1890 the college’s Governing Council had facilitated free education to their wards, which was discontinued a few years ago without any valid reason.

Major Sarkaria also produced a copy of a communication by the then honorary secretary of the Governing Council, Dilbir Singh, dated November 3, 1977. The communication states, “The managing committee has, at its meeting held on December 20, 1976, vide its resolution No. 109, granted facility of exemption of fee to keshdhari sons and daughters of the original residents of village Kot Khalsa, who have donated their land for establishment of this institution.”

On the other hand, the Governing Council’s honorary secretary, Rajendar Mohan Singh Chhina, claimed that nobody had donated land for setting up the college. “We had purchased barren land of four villages, Kot Khalsa, Mahal, Kaale and Ghanupur, for establishing the college.” He said there was no resolution to provide free education to any resident of Kot Khalsa, though the college had been extending the facility to economically backward students with a good academic record or sporting abilities. Meanwhile, the Khalsa College Agriculture Alumni Forum (Agrikhalsa-North America) in a release issued from Canada, has expressed anguish over the proposal.

Similarly, the All-India Sikh Students Federation also came out against the proposal, contending that Amritsar already had Guru Nanak Dev University.

Ludhiana, March 22
Despite being differently abled, Rahul Duggal, a student of BCA (III) at SCD Government College here, has topped for the second consecutive year in BCA (II). It was a proud moment for Rahul, his single mother, the college and its staff when Rahul was honoured for his rare achievement during the annual prize distribution function of the college held here today.

Talking to The Tribune, Rahul mother’s Jaya said: “When all my near and dear ones started maintaining distance from me fearing I might ask for financial help for my son, I decided to fight this battle alone. And today I can proudly say that I have won.”

With tears in her eyes, she said when Rahul was just nine-year-old, he suddenly stopped walking and talking. “I was alone and totally shattered, but for Rahul, I had to become a pillar of strength. I wanted my child to study in good school, but all schools denied admission to him. With regular medication, he started speaking. He appeared for Class VIII exams as a private candidate. In Class X, Rahul topped in the state. After that, there was no looking back. Again in Class XII, he topped in the state (in handicap category)”, said the proud mother. This time, his achievements were recognised by the state government and Rahul was asked by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal where he (Rahul) wanted to study. Rahul opted for BCA at SCD Government College. His course fee (regular student) was sponsored by the government. Both in BCA I and II, Rahul topped in Ludhiana (boys’ category). Once again, the state government has offered to sponsor his MCA fee.

An elated Rahul said: “My aim in life is to become an IAS officer for my mother who has struggled a lot. She is the only inspiration in my life.” Rahul takes exams with the help of a writer.

Chandigarh , March 22
The Punjab Government has decided to give an additional five marks to rural candidates for direct recruitment in all its departments, corporations and boards.

A letter in this regard was issued by the government today.

A government spokesman said this decision had been taken in accordance with the order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in the civil writ petition of Sudesh Rani vs Punjab State.

Patiala, March 22
The Excise and Taxation Department has ordered an inquiry into the liquor vend auction scam where certain lotteries were put into ticket basket with the alleged help of certain excise officials.

On Monday, amidst sloganeering and allegations pertaining to favouritism, the allotment of English and homemade liquor vends in the city fetched a total amount of Rs 155.14 crore that exceeded last year’s amount by Rs 36.75 crore. The affected parties, whose tickets were disqualified, have threatened to move court alleging nexus between excise officials and certain groups.

Utter chaos prevailed after allegations that an applicant had marked his lottery ticket for the auction to make it easier for the person taking out the ticket. Following the allegations, excise officials tried to hush up the matter by cancelling the faulty liquor vend application that was opposed by the affected party. The officials had later taken out another draw allowing all applicants to participate.

“I had submitted my lottery ticket from past over three days. How can they claim that I had specially marked it when I do not even know the person who took out my ticket from the draw of lots?” alleged Lalit Singla, whose second draw of lot was cancelled by the excise officials. “This is complete partiality to favour certain influential groups who were hand in glove with the officials,” he alleged, claiming that it was the responsibility of the officials to check the lottery tickets.

Excise and Taxation Commissioner A Venu Prasad said the matter was brought to his notice and he has ordered an inquiry to be conducted by two senior officers. “I have asked HPS Ghotra, AETC, Patiala; and Amrik Singh, DETC, Patiala, to submit a report on the issue,” he added.

Earlier in the day, the draw of lots for the allotment of vends was conducted at Amar Banquet Hall where Patiala DC Dipinder Singh was also present. A spokesperson of the Excise and Taxation Department said vends in Patiala circle had shown an increased income of Rs 12.37 crore while Samana circle saw an increase of 17.67 crore.

The excise policy of the state for 2011-12 was approved with an increase of Rs 728 crore over the last year. The Cabinet had decided to continue with the existing system of allotment of liquor vends through a draw of lots in a free and fair manner in the presence of applicants, public and the Deputy Commissioners of the districts. Public and mediapersons are allowed to take out draw of lots.

Barnala, March 22
Two motorcycle-borne persons gunned down the husband of former Barnala Municipal Council president Rajinder Kaur outside the office of the Barnala SSP this evening. The victim, Pal Singh Pali, died on the spot and the alleged accused have been arrested. Pali was allegedly killed by the duo, including Pharwai village sarpanch Gurtej Singh, over a money dispute.

The incident took place when Pali was on his way to his shop on a scooter when the accused opened fire on him following which he fell from the scooter and died on the spot.

Sources said after committing the crime, the accused fled the spot, but were chased by police guards on the duty outside the SSP's office and were apprehended from Ghunas drain near Khuddi village. Pali was rushed to a hospital where doctors declared him brought dead. Meanwhile, Barnala SSP Gurpreet Singh Toor said the accused, sarpanch of Pharwai village Gurtej Singh and his relative Amandeep Singh, had been arrested. The weapon used in the crime had also been seized from their possession. A case has been registered.— TNS