My stand is in keeping with the sentiments of society at large which has decided to boycott Makkar socially — Sukhpal S Khaira

MLA Sarabjit Singh Makkar’s nephew Prince Makkar is the prime accused in the murder case of hotelier Gurkirat Singh

Chandigarh, April 26
Punjab Congress legislator Sukhpal Singh Khaira today took offence at the reappointment of Adampur legislator Sarabjit Singh Makkar as Chairman of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha Privileges Committee and refused to appear before him in accordance with the “wishes of the people of the state”.

Khaira and five other legislators had been summoned by the Privileges Committee today to give their version following a breach of the privilege notice issued against them for striding on to the desk of the Deputy Speaker and the Leader of the Opposition to deliver speeches during the recent budget session.

While the Privileges Committee has asked all the six Congress legislators to file their written replies by May 10, Khaira has in a communication to Speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon made it clear that he would not appear before the committee as long as Makkar heads it.

Khaira has demanded that either the Speaker replace Makkar as head of the Committee or pass an ex parte order against him. He said he had taken this stand in keeping with the sentiments of society at large which had decided to boycott Makkar socially.

Makkar’s nephew and Akali councillor Prince Makkar is charged with the murder of Gurkirat Singh Gikky a few days back.

Khaira, while explaining his actions in the Vidhan Sabha, said that Congress legislators had been forced to stand upon desks of the Deputy Speaker and the Leader of the Opposition to make themselves heard after they had been denied justice by the Speaker.

He said Congress legislators had been demanding that the budget be presented afresh as it was fudged and had even rushed to the well of the House to register their protest, but the Speaker refused to intervene in the matter and fulfil his duties as custodian of the House.

Chandigarh, April 26
Even as eminent agriculture scientist Dr MS Swaminathan has advocated raising silos in Punjab for long-term foodgrain storage, the state is struggling to create medium-term storage facilities in the shape of godowns with the Centre sitting on a proposal to create additional covered space to store 22 lakh metric tonnes of grain.

Dr Swaminathan had, after touring various procurement centres yesterday, suggested that silos be built for long-term storage to prevent deterioration and rotting of foodgrain on account of delays in transferring the same to consumption states. The state has only one silo facility in Moga which can store 2 lakh tonnes of foodgrain.

Against the demand for construction of godowns for storing 40 lakh tonnes to meet the hold-over stock of wheat lying in the state at the start of the fresh procurement season, the state has finalised additional space for only 13 lakh tonnes.

Punjab has been unable to create extra storage space because of the high land cost as well as difference in land rates in various parts of the state. While responding to tenders solicited by the FCI, storage capacity of only 13 lakh tonnes was approved with most private players quoting a storage price above Rs 5 per quintal per month.

However after the FCI finalised its price, entrepreneurs agreed to store foodgrain at the price fixed by the FCI, ensuring the state got additional space to store 22 lakh tonnes. The Chief Minister has already taken up the matter with the Centre, claiming that re-tendering would delay building of godowns by up to five to six months and that all the old bidders had gone through the process of getting their sites approved.

Food and Civil Supplies Secretary DS Grewal, when questioned, said the state was trying to convince the Centre that since the scheme offered one price across the board, all those interested should be allowed to participate in it. The state had simultaneously issued tenders for the creation of new godowns at 24 stations, which would result in a additional capacity of 7.5 lakh tonnes.

Meanwhile, the state has an opening stock of 46 lakh tonnes pending from last year’s harvest, which is yet to be moved out. It also has 4 lakh tonnes of wheat from the 2009 harvest and 82,000 tonnes from the 2008 harvest, which is highly susceptible to rotting. As much as 20 lakh tonnes of wheat is in ‘unscientific storage’, that is storage without raised plinths and drains. Even the wheat stored ‘scientifically’ on plinths in the open is susceptible to damage if not moved out within a year.

Attari, April 26
Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar inspected the integrated check post being constructed on the Indo-Pakistan border before crossing over for trade talks with his counterpart in Pakistan.

Talking to TNS, he said: “Granting the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India is not an issue. Our priority during the talks will be to ask the neighbouring country to implement the trade policies as per the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) among the SAARC countries,” said Khullar. He said Pakistan was hesitant to accord the MFN status to India. Khullar, accompanied by a six-member delegation, will hold a two- day meeting with his counterpart Zafar Mehmood in Islamabad beginning tomorrow.

He said the issue of liberal visa norms for the business community will also be discussed. “ I will take up the issue of liberal visa norms to the business community so that the trade ties between India and Pakistan get a further boost,” he said.

Asked about the agenda of the meeting, the Commerce Secretary said there was no fixed agenda. “I will do my best to strengthen the trade ties between two nations.We will ask the Pakistan authorities to create the required infrastructure on the other side of the border.”

Earlier, he imet a delegation of local exporters led by Mukesh Sidhwani and Rajdeep Uppal, president and vice-president of Amritsar Exporters’ Chambers of Commerce, respectively.

The exporters urged Khullar to review the barter trade policy in Kashmir as it was hurting the trade though the Wagah land route.

The Commerce Secretary said he would take up the issue with the central government on his return from Pakistan.

Bathinda, April 26
Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal today accused the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre of being insensitive towards the increasing racial attacks on Sikhs abroad.

Sukhbir, who was here to oversee wheat procurement and the progress in the laying of water and drain pipes in rural areas, said the Centre had failed to effectively take up the issue of racial attacks with the concerned countries.

He said that India should learn a lesson from the US that had got its diplomat Raymond Davis released despite the fact that he was accused of murdering two Pakistanis.

The response of the Centre towards the spate of racial attacks on Punjabis in Australia and elsewhere was very poor, he said.

Sukhbir accused the UPA government of taking action against corrupt ministers and officials only on the intervention of courts. He lashed out at the PPCC chief and former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh for spreading “false propaganda” regarding the financial position of Punjab in a bid to “mislead” the people.

“The financial position of the state has improved under the SAD-BJP government due to effective enforcement of financial discipline and decline in the debt ratio. The debt figures will further decline when the Centre repays Punjab the money it is spending on procurement of grain this season,” the Deputy CM said.

He said Punjab had fixed the target of generating about 400 mw of electricity out of agriculture waste.

Ropar, April 26
President of the PPP Manpreet Singh Badal said here today that tainted MLAs and leaders whose relatives were involved in criminal cases should resign on moral grounds. “Having such relatives is a matter of shame,” he said.

In town to inaugurate his party’s office, he said six lakh people have already become members of the People’s Party of Punjab (PPP), while 25 lakh membership forms have been distributed, president PPP Manpreet Singh Badal said.

Badal was here to inaugurate party’s office at Ropar. He said PPP’s membership fee was just Re 1 of which 30 P was the cost of the membership slip printed and 70 P went to the company maintaining data of its members. Party was not collecting any separate party fund from its members. “We will have a database of our members. This database will be helpful in election campaigning to be in touch with our members and propagate our activities,” said Badal.

The membership drive would continue till June 30. The party has not targeted any certain number of members. “We just don’t want to increase the number of members for the sake of large head count. We want committed people joining us and working for the cause of Punjab,” he said.

Badal said within next 90 days the party would establish itself with all its wings in place. The membership drive was launched on April 27 at Khatkar Kalan and since then many people have joined hands with the party.

Talking about the law and order situation in the state he said owner of even liquor vends moved around with gunmen in tow. “Gunmen are more of style statements. I have been moving around without a security for past so many years. It is high time political leaders realise that spending on security is a total waste,” he added.

Ludhiana, April 26
Having received monthly remuneration of Rs 27,000 as contractual workers under zila parishads, the 1,186 rural medical officers in Punjab were in for a shock when the Rural Development and Panchayats Department announced regularisation of their services fixing their salary at Rs 15,600 per month.

As perceived, the offer was rejected by the doctors. They termed it as a “raw” deal saying they may now go in for jobs in private hospitals. The rural medical officers (RMOs) had been told to join village dispensaries as permanent recruits on May 1, 2011.

Notably, the RMOs were elemental in implementing among others the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program and immunization, malaria control, family planning and school programs in villages. They had been working in dispensaries since 2006.

Regularising their jobs was a pre-poll promise made by the Shiromani Akali Dal to the RMOs. However, a notification was only issued by the state government on April 25. But, their joy was soured when they got to know that their salary would be Rs 15,600 a month, about Rs 11,400 less than what they used to get earlier.

Terming the move as a “disheartening” one, Dr Deepika, RMO working in Ludhiana district, alleged that the government had turned a blind eye towards their demand. "The rural populace will be at the receiving end as the government decision will once again leave them at the mercy of quacks."

Dr Parwinder Kaur and Dr Shivdeep, RMOs serving in Jalandhar and Sangrur villages, said they would instead take up jobs with private hospitals, which were offering about Rs 40,000 a month.

Rural Medical Officers Association state president Dr Aslam Parvez termed the notification as a "clinical and clerical" mistake. "We will bring it to the notice of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal who had promised to acknowledge the good work done by the RMOs in elevating the standards of rural healthcare."

Fazilka, April 26
Two Pakistani nationals - Hanif and his sister Razia - were taken into custody by BSF jawans immediately after they crossed over to Indian territory in the area under Nirmal border observation post (BOP) on the Indo-Pak border in Ferozepur district this afternoon.

The BSF authorities handed these ‘intruders’ back to Pakistan Rangers within five hours as a goodwill gesture after they were found to be inadvertent intruders during the questioning done by intelligence sleuths. Information gathered by The Tribune revealed that a Kisan Guard deployed by BSF authorities on the border found two youth - one male and one female - entering the Indian side. The intruders, who were in a bad shape, were taken into custody immediately.

When they were interrogated, they said that they belonged to the Haveli Lecker village of Pakistan that was located near the Indo-Pak border. They said that they had been collecting wheat straw and husk from the fields in Pakistan and didn’t realise that they had strayed into the Indian side in the process.

Vimal Satyarthi, DIG, BSF, Abohar, said that at first, it was suspected that these intruders had been sent by Pakistan-based smugglers as a part of their strategy that entailed pushing innocent persons into India from different locations on the border.

After the innocent intruders succeeded in crossing over to India from a particular point, the smugglers would use the same point to push narcotics, weapons and fake Indian currency notes into Indian territory. He said that after these two intruders were found innocent, they were handed over to Pakistan Rangers. A flag meeting with Pakistan Rangers was held by BSF functionaries at the border and a protest was lodged against the intrusion of the duo.

Jalandhar, April 26
The Shahkot police today recorded the statements of Dalit minor Kanta (17), constable Teerath Singh and his brother Nachattar Singh.

Kanta had accused Teerath of allegedly beating her up for not being able to pay a paltry sum of Rs 10 that she owed to Nachattar.

DSP (Shahkot) Mandeep Singh said the statements of both the parties had been recorded and the girl was sent for a medical examination to Civil Hospital, Lohian. "I would be forwarding the report to SSP (Rural) Ashish Chaudhary," he said.

Rajpura, April 26
Standing wheat crop on four acres of land was gutted in a fire, due to short circuiting today. Besides, stubble in 21 acres of land was also destroyed in the fire. The farmers of Peharkalan village had been cultivating the area for past long time.

Birdevider Singh, one of the affected farmers, said the ripened wheat in four acres was completely damaged in the fire along with the stubble in rest of the fields. He said the low-lying electric wires, with loose connections, were the cause of the fire. “The fire, which started from the short-circuit, immediately caught the dry wheat crop and high speed winds spread it all over within few seconds,” said Bir Devinder Singh.

He said the fire brigade in Rajpura reached after around one hour of the incident. They kept locating the place of fire, as they were not aware of the village roads and wasted time.

“Since the farms are spread in hundreds of acres and due to the different approach roads, the fire brigades generally reach late,” the farmers said.

The standing wheat crop of four acres belonged to Attar Singh of Peharkalan village. Farmers said similar incidents had previously taken place due to loose electricity wires in the surrounding villages. 

Fatehgarh Sahib, April 26
Teachers, employed in the state government-aided schools, will soon launch an agitation due to the arrears in salaries for the past four months.

Besides this, the Punjab Government has also failed to implement their pending demands despite promises made by the senior government functionaries, including the Chief Minister in recent meetings with teachers association.

State press secretary Punjab State Government-Aided School Teachers Association, Ravinder Joshi said it was decided in the state-level executive meeting of the union held in Jalandhar that we will launch a stir after one week.

He said the Punjab Chief Minister had assured that all pending demands would be met with and had also promised to contribute state government’s share in teachers’ salaries regularly but nothing has been done in this regard.

The state government contributes 95 per cent of the total salaries of teachers the school managements contribute the rest of five percent.

The teachers have also been demanding revised salary as per the new pay grade and restarting the pension scheme, which was discontinued in June, 2003.

The teachers said despite meeting the Education Secretary, the Finance Secretary and the Principal Secretary nothing was done in this regard. We will be forced to agitate if their demands were not met within one week. 

Kharar, April 26
An all-terrain vehicle (ATV) made by the students of Chandigarh Group of Colleges, Landran, won the first prize in the state-level competition organised by the Punjab Technical University at Pushpa Gujral Science City, Kapurthala.

Students, Abhishek Sidhu, Jatinder Gupta, Gaurav Rana, Harpreet Brar and Karan Abrol, of the Mechanical Department had made the ATV 800 car in the college. They worked on innovative techniques to develop this car under the guidance of college faculty.

“The ATV has a new brake technique with which every tyre has an individual brake, thereby making it a very safe vehicle. The ATV can be driven in a desert, the mountains and snow-covered areas alike,” the students said.They said the brake system of the ATV would prevent accidents. The total cost of the ATV was Rs 1.5 lakh of which the management gave Rs 1 lakh. The ATV 800 is a rear-engine vehicle with the engine of a Maruti 800. The suspension of the vehicle is all around independent, due to which it rides easily on uneven and rough terrains.

The ATV also has all round disk brakes for better braking efficiency. Chassis of the vehicle has been designed so as it can bear any major impact and not get damaged.

The vehicle is equipped with hydraulic wheel lock, which is a new type of locking system.

“While sitting in the vehicle, the driver can lock any live wheel, which is being powered by engine and can send entire torque of engine to wheel. Hydraulic valves and hydraulic hand brake play a major role here,” the students said.

Chandigarh, April 26
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has asked the State of Punjab to review the cases of 26 doctors given the benefit of “Assured Career Progression Scheme”, even though they were allegedly not entitled for it. Already, 352 cases have been reviewed.

The directions came on a petition filed in public interest by Sham Lal Saini through counsel HC Arora.

The Bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Surya Kant said: “The petitioner has stated and averred that the benefit under the ACP Scheme is to be granted only on the basis of good annual confidential report. But, in the present case, by an order dated August 6, 2000, average and satisfactory ACRs have been directed to be treated as good ACRs. “Accordingly, acting on the basis of the government order, undue benefits have been given to a large number of doctors who had ‘average’ grading in their ACRs. Hence, this PIL has been filed”.

The Bench also said: “The state has filed an affidavit to the effect that the order dated August 6, 2000, has been withdrawn and a review of a large number of cases that were considered on the basis of the said order, has been carried out.

“Specifically, it is stated by Rupinder Khosla, Additional Advocate-General, that 352 cases have been reviewed by the state government and the cases that remain to be reviewed are 26 only. Khosla has further submitted on the basis of the review exercise, that the situation has been corrected, except that the benefits already drawn are not being recovered”. Disposing of the petition, the Bench said: “In view of the action taken by the state government, we are of the view that this PIL should not call for any other order except that the remaining 26 cases be also reviewed by the state government and the exercise completed within two months. “In the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case, we are of the view that monetary benefits already drawn by the persons concerned need not be recovered from them”.