Fake arms may have reached Naxals too
Mansa, April 21
Even though the police was yet to make public the findings of the probe conducted into the fake arms racket busted here a few days ago, unconfirmed reports suggest that the supply could have reached the Maoists too.

Jalandhar, April 21
A young city hotelier was shot dead by a nephew of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) legislator from the Adampur constituency, Sarabjit Singh Makkar, in the wee hours today.

Ram Simran Singh Makkar, alias Prince, a local councillor, opened fire at Gurkirat Singh Sekhon, alias Gikky, outside Bawa Rasoi, an eating joint, in Model Town.

The police has registered a case of murder against Makkar and his accomplices under Sections 302, 34 of the IPC on the complaint of Rajbir Singh, father of the deceased.

Varun Ghumbar, owner of the eating joint, who knew both the assailant and the victim, rushed Girkirat to a private hospital, but the he died on the way.

Prince escaped from the crime site along with his three accomplices-Amardeep Singh Sachdeva, alias Sunny, an advocate, Prince Narula, a trader in electronic goods, and Jasdeep Jassu, owned of hotel Ranvir Classic.

A friend of the deceased said Gikky left his hotel, Sekhon Grand, for home in Green Avenue at 12.45 am. On the way, he noticed Prince and his friends outside the eating joint. The four were allegedly under the influence of liquor.

Gikky stopped his vehicle and walked towards them. He knew all four who had been his classmates.

Gikky was suspicious that Prince may have been behind a raid at his hotel Regent Park.

He was seen engaged in a heated argument with Prince. Eyewitnesses said Sachdeva held Gikky at gunpoint while a bullet fired by Prince pierced his back. He collapsed on the ground.

A worried Ghumbar rushed to Gikky’s help. After informing Gikky’s father about the incident, he took him to a private hospital where he was declared ‘brought dead’.

Relatives of the victim alleged that before fleeing, Prince had threatened Ghumbar with dire consequences if he dared inform the police about the incident.

Meanwhile, Makkar said his nephew and Gikky were childhood friends and their families shared cordial ties.

“I will advise Prince and his friends to surrender and join police investigations,” he said.

Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee President Capt Amarinder Singh condemned the incident.

Demanding the immediate arrest of the accused, he said that the police must not give any concessions to the guilty. He warned that police officials who try to shield him will have to face the consequences themselves.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Arun Pal Singh said the police had launched a hunt for the suspects and issued a circular to all airports to ensure they did not escape abroad.

Fatehgarh Sahib, April 21
The farmers, who are sitting in various grain markets of Fatehgarh Sahib, have very little space to spread out and dry their produce.

Farmers are required to reduce the moisture content of wheat grains to 12 per cent before the agencies procure it. Intermittent rain for four days last week had increased the moisture content of wheat crop to more than 17 per cent.

Clear weather over the past two days has accelerated the process of harvesting due to which grain markets are flooded with wheat. Farmers, however, are unable to find space due to the sudden rush in the markets. Amrik Singh of Raisal village, sitting for the past week with his produce in the Amloh grain market, said that even two days of sunshine failed to reduce the moisture content of his wheat crop due to non-availability of labourers and space shortage.

Gursewak Singh, a commission agent, said that all his five labourers fled away when he asked them to dry 20 quintals of wheat grains three days ago.

He added that as wheat harvesting is picking up pace with combine machines, the problem of space crunch is increasing in the grain markets.

Amritsar, April 21
Following an appeal by GNDU Vice-Chancellor AS Brar, teachers resumed the evaluation of answer sheets today. However, they were adamant on complying with their agenda of boycotting the evaluation process in the entire state, including Chandigarh, from April 27.

RK Bedi, in charge of (examinations), said evaluation was done as per normal practice today and that the evaluation centres would remain open even as the university would be closed for three days.

“All the evaluation centres has been decided to kept open for next three days to make up the loss due to the ongoing boycott call by teachers,” he said.

The secretary general of the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers’ Union, HS Walia, said the evaluation work will continue till April 26 but the teachers would observe protest dharna for one hour in front of all the evaluation centres throughout Punjab and Chandigarh.

“If the Khalsa college management did not withdraw the suspension orders of their three teachers, house evacuation notice to four and police cases against 20 others till April 26, we would boycott the evaluation process of the entire state from the next day,” he said.

However, the hearing over the issue of cases registered against 20 Khalsa College teachers, which was supposed to be held today, has been deferred to April 29 by the local district court. 

Mansa, April 21
Even though the police was yet to make public the findings of the probe conducted into the fake arms racket busted here a few days ago, unconfirmed reports suggest that the supply could have reached the Maoists too.

If such conjecture is substantiated with evidence in due course of investigation, this could be one of the several surprises that have sprung up following the surfacing of the racket of counterfeit weapons.

According to the police, several gun houses had been copying national and international brands of repute and using their logos on ‘kattas’ (countrymade pistols) to sell them as original. A weapon that cost around Rs 22,000 to Rs 50,000 to the gun houses was further sold twice the amount to customers.

As per sources, a section of those involved in the arms racket supplied weapons to the Maoists in Bihar and other parts of country too. Besides, the supply was also made to the members of various criminal gangs operating in different parts of the country.

While a number of suspects have been rounded up, only three formal arrests have been made so far — Mahesh Kumar, gun house dealer of Mansa, Kamal Kant, fake arms supplier of Orya district in UP, and Neelam Rani, wife of an arms dealer of Moga.

Also, several arms dealers across the country have gone underground after the unearthing of the racket. Around 50 counterfeit arms — sold as genuine — have been seized so far.

When contacted, SP Raghubir Singh confirmed that grapevine was abuzz about fake arms having been supplied to the Maoists, but denied that the police authorities had collected any evidence in this regard. 

Amritsar, April 21
Chetan, a Pakistani national, had to wait for 18 long years to immerse the ashes of his grandfather in the Ganga at Haridwar. And he was not the only one. In the 348-member religious group from Sind that returned back home today, around 30 shared their purpose of visit to India with Chetan.

While it took almost two decades for Chetan’s wish to come true, he rued there might be others waiting for even longer.

Asked what caused the delay? Visa restrictions, he replied instantly. “I made several attempts to seek visa but it was only after 18 years that I was successful. Now, my grandpa’s soul will rest in peace.”

Before crossing over the Attari-Wagah border after a month-long pilgrimage to Shadani Darbar, Raipur (Chhattisgarh), Gobind Ram, chief coordinator of the group, said: “These departed souls can finally attain ‘moksha’ (salvation)…. As the mandatory visa formalities could not be fulfilled, we could not come here to perform the last rites of our relatives as per Hindu rituals. So, we kept their ashes for years together, only to be immersed in the holy river finally.”

Not having any relatives on this side of the border, accompanying some ‘jatha’ (group) was the only option, said the pilgrims, seeking relaxation in visa rules.

Surinder Kumar Billa, national head of the Hindu Rashtriya Sewa Samiti, a body taking care of Hindu ‘jathas’ coming from Pakistan via the Attari-Wagah border for the past 30 years, said repeated pleas had been made to the authorities concerned in India but to no avail.

It has been learnt that there were still at least 80-odd cases wherein Pakistani Hindus were yearning for years together to come to Haridwar to immerse the ashes of their relatives, their wish held up due to visa restrictions.

Batala, April 21
An agitation started more than two months ago for the creation of Batala revenue district has ended on the intervention of Speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon.

The stir spearheaded by Jagdish Sawhney, BJP legislator, was backed by the local Bar Association and social and and industrial organisations. Kahlon said there was no policy to create new revenue districts. Kahlon served juice to all those sitting on a protest dharna. He assured the protesters that an ADC would be posted at Batala at the earliest.

Sawhney had made a call for a Batala bandh tomorrow.

Patiala, April 21
Janmeja Singh Sekhon, Irrigation Minister, Punjab, has said that in the wake of the fact that there is just one post for drug inspector in Patiala district, he would send a proposal to the state government, requesting that doctors working in the Government Rajindra Hospital, Patiala, should be allowed to conduct surprise raids at the drug stores operating in Patiala district.

During the district grievances committee meeting held at Mini Secretariat here today, some committee members pointed out that a large number of drug stores are indulging in the sale of the habit-forming drugs, containing narcotics or psychotropic substances.

Subsequently, Sekhon, who is the chairman of the committee, said that in order to keep a check on the unhealthy practice of sale of habit-forming drugs, there is a need to conduct surprise checking at drug stores regularly. “Presently, there are about 3,000 drug stores in Patiala district and only one drug inspector to monitor them. Hence, there is a need to assign the responsibility of conducting raids at drug stores to the doctors working in the Government Rajindra Hospital, Patiala.

“A proposal in this regard will be formulated and will be sent to the Punjab Chief Minister for approval,” said Sekhon. In February, drug inspectors of the respective districts of Punjab had instructed all drug stores owners to properly maintain the record pertaining to the sale of the habit-forming drugs with a view to prevent drug store owners from selling these without a proper prescription.

Patiala, April 21
Engineers working in the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) and Punjab State Transmission Corporation Limited (PSTCL) have announced the schedule of the agitation that they would launch against the decision of the Punjab Government to recruit engineers on contract basis in the two power utilities of the state.

President of the PSEB Engineers’ Association (PSEBEA) HS Bedi said that an emergency meeting of the executive committee of the association was convened today to finalise the schedule to hold demonstrations. Bedi said that to lodge its protest, the association has decided to hold circle-level protest meetings from April 25 to April 30.

“On May 3, the engineers of both power utilities will observe a state-level protest day by wearing black badges. The deputations of engineers at the circle level will meet their local MLAs and ministers to make them aware about the repercussions of the decision taken by the state government to recruit engineers on contract,” he added.

Leaders in the association said that in case the government fails to review the decision, the association would intensify the agitation and engineers will hold a march at all the zonal headquarters - Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Patiala and Bathinda - on May 20. Bhupinder Singh, general secretary of the association, has appealed to all the trade unions in the state to jointly oppose the decision taken by the state government.

The executive committee of the PSEBEA also criticised the managements of PSPCL/PSTCL for their failure to present the case before the state government for the regular recruitment of engineers.

Kharar, April 21
Kharar-Urban SDO Gurvinder Singh and JE Kulwant Singh of Powercom were assaulted at Pannua village, near here, today.

They were taken to the local Civil Hospital.

The officials had gone to fix a tubewell connection at the village.

There they had an altercation with a farmer, Avtar Singh, who objected to power supply wires being laid across his fields.

He claimed he had got a court stay which barred power cables over his fields. “We asked him to produce a copy of the stay orders, but he failed to do so,” said JE Kulwant Singh. Avtar Singh allegedly called up his friends who arrived there in a jeep.They attacked the officials with sharp-edged weapons .

Chandigarh, April 21
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the State of Punjab to ensure timely disbursement of compensation for acquired land even after the merger of land acquisition wings of the Irrigation Department.

The directions came on a petition filed in public interest by Ram Saran of Patiala district and other petitioners. The petitioners, through counsel Hardeep Singh, had challenged the merger of the drainage circle (Patiala) and the Dolbaha dam project with the SYL project.

Taking up the petition, the Bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Surya Kant said: “The grievance raised in this PIL is in respect of the merger of the land acquisition wings of three establishments of the Irrigation Department into one….

“Counsel for the petitioners contends that the merger would affect public interest in as much as it would lead to a delay in the disposal of land acquisition cases and disbursement of compensation. “It is also urged that the merger has been made merely to accommodate one person, namely Inderveer Kaur (SYL land acquisition officer).”

Refusing to interfere in the merger, the Bench said: “These are purely administrative functions that the state authorities must be left free to decide.

“The plea with regard to concentration of powers in one person for whose benefit the entire exercise is claimed to have been made, on the very face of it, is not acceptable.

“In so far as the delay in the disposal of land acquisition cases and disbursement of compensation is concerned, the issue can be adequately taken care of by directing the state that the merger of the three establishments should not result in any delay in the disposal of cases and disbursement of compensation to persons from whom land has been acquired.

The state will ensure the same”. The Bench concluded: “The PIL is, therefore, not being entertained any further and is accordingly disposed of.”