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Sangat darshan at students’ cost
BJP stands by Khurana; sees Congress hand
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Dharna outside tainted leader’s house
Bigwigs derail power co-generation plans
Power tariff hike on anvil
Pak Sikhs say meat cooked at Panja Sahib, want shrine staff suspended
Khalsa College Imbroglio
Measures to control floods
Patiala police tops performance chart; Amritsar at the bottom
Canadian students on a mission
Crime branch arrests senior officer of Citrus Council
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Sangat darshan at students’ cost
Fatehgarh Sahib, May 5 As many as 275 policemen from adjoining police districts - Khanna, Jagraon and Fatehgarh Sahib - converted the engineering college into a police camp for security reasons. While gun-toting and baton-wielding Punjab police cops dotted the campus and motorcades with red-beacons moved with sirens blaring, college students and families of faculty members residing on the campus were shooed away. The CM’s sangat darshan will continue tomorrow as well and the practical exams of students will end on Sunday. The CM is to distribute cheques worth Rs 13.44 crore to 165 village panchayats of Fatehgarh Sahib Assembly constituency. As many as 83 village panchayats got their cheques today and the rest (82) will get theirs tomorrow. Reacting to mediapersons’ queries over the SAD-BJP’s Chief Parliamentary Secretaries’ involvement in corruption cases, Badal said that he was not aware of the arrest of BJP legislator Raj Khurana. “If he has been arrested for indulging in any kind of corrupt practice, he will have to resign immediately,” he said. However, he evaded the question of ousting CPS Sohan Singh Thandal, who has been sentenced to three-year imprisonment, from the folds of the party. A large number of local politicians, village panchayat members, even doctors from Fatehgarh Sahib civil hospital, senior police functionaries including the DIG, SSP, SPs and DSPs, Deputy Commissioner, SDMs and many other civil servants too are camping with the CM to distribute cheques for various developmental projects in the villages.
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BJP stands by Khurana; sees Congress hand
Chandigarh, May 5 The party made it clear following a meeting of its core committee, that later briefed Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal about the case, that it would stand by Khurana as the CBI had recovered nothing from his person or house. It also claimed there was no question of seeking the latter’s resignation. BJP Legislature Party leader Manoranjan Kalia claimed that neither he nor Technical Education Mnister Swarna Ram had anything to do with the 14-acre land case at Bishanpura village near Zirakpur with regard to which a bribe was allegedly demanded. Kalia said the Registrar of Firms, which was dealing with the case, was under him but the file pertaining to the case had not come to him. Swarna Ram did not remember marking any application about the case as claimed by the complainant. Though the party adopted a combative strategy, holding a dharna outside the local office of the CBI, its leaders displayed signs of nervousness following the meeting of the core committee. Many among the BJP feel the party’s worst nightmare has come true with the CBI putting two of its ministers under the scanner in the bribery case. Former CPS Jagdish Sahni committed a self-goal by terming the development as unfortunate and demanding that those accused should quit their posts immediately. The saffron party is in a spot as the corruption allegations are not limited to Khurana. Sources said if it was not so, the party would have dumped him in the same way the SAD had ousted CPS Sohan Singh Thandal after he was convicted in a disproportionate assets case. The bribery allegations are also likely to have an effect on the SAD- BJP combine in the Doaba belt where it had done exceedingly well in the last assembly elections. The SAD is already on the backfoot in Adampur where a nephew of its legislator Sarabjit Singh Makkar stands accused of murder. With Kalia, who represents the Jalandhar Central constituency, also under the CBI scanner, the coalition will be under relentless attack from the Opposition in the Doaba belt. The CBI case could also end the long run of CPS Khurana, who had won the last assembly election from Rajpura after switching loyalties from the Congress to the
BJP.
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Dharna outside tainted leader’s house
Rajpura, May 5 They arrived at Tahli Wala Chowk and raised slogans against the Khurana, demanding a probe against others involved in the sale of the land. as well. The protesters demanded a thorough probe into allegations of a huge commission having been paid to politicians for acquiring hundreds of acres of fertile land of six villages. Distributing copies of a letter to the Prime Minister, the angry farmers, led by Gurcharan Singh of Sehra village, alleged that they had been fighting against the “shady” land deal for a long time. “We will also meet CBI officials in Chandigarh tomorrow”, a determined Gurcharan Singh said. The farmers said they had been cultivating the land for the past many decades and now had been forced to give it up at a paltry sum for the IT Park. The land would be sold to businessmen at skyrocketing prices later, the farmers alleged. They said they would not rest till justice was done. Earlier, they sat on dharna in front of the Rajpura residence of the tainted BJP leader and blocked traffic on the highway.
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Bigwigs derail power co-generation plans
To revive sugar mills in the cooperative sector, the then Cooperation Minister, Capt Kanwaljit Singh, had floated the concept of co-generation from the residue not only to meet the power demand of the mills but also to generate revenue. If the terms and conditions at which the beneficiary companies were given the contracts for co-generation were met, the mills should have partially, if not fully, come out of the red by now. Intriguingly at some mills, especially those under contract with Saraya’s Industries, a company owned by the brother-in-law of Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, is yet to start work even after as the deadline for completing the work is approaching fast. Saraya’s, owned by the Majithias, had the contract to generate power from the residual waste of the Ajnala, Gurdaspur, Nawanshahr and Batala coop mills. Punjab Sugarfed had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the mills at Ajnala, Batala, Bhogpur, Budhewal, Fazilka, Gurdaspur, Morinda, Nakodar and Nawanshahr with four companies - Spray Engineering Devices, Saraya Industries, Purab Infrastructure Projects and A2Z Infrastructure - for cogeneration of power. The companies were mandated to set up co-generation plants besides modernising and upgrading these sugar mills on a built, operate and transfer (BOT) basis. Sources say that the companies, including the one owned by the Majithias, have failed to set up the power generation plants at any of the nine sugar mills in the stipulated period. The department has yet to initiate any penalty proceedings against the defaulting companies. The companies also failed to make the promised payments to the mills in the stipulated period.The companies maintain that the reason for the delay in the execution of work was non-clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment and the Pollution Control Board. SS Bajwa, manager, Nakodar Sugar Mill, said almost 70 per cent work on setting up of a power co-generation power plant had been completed. The rest would be finished in a few months. General manager of Sugarfed, MP Singh, said that work on power generating plants at Morinda, Fazilka, Nakodar and Budhewal was in progress. “Since the companies have to set up the power generation plants on a BOT basis, they will be the losers for any delay in commissioning the projects,” he Singh. Official records reveal that Rs 1,000 crore was to be spent on setting up these plants with a capacity to generate 20 MW -25 MW of power each. The Saraya’s Engineering was to set up a co-generation plant (18 MW) in Bhogpur and its sugar-producing capacity to be enhanced from 1,016 tonnes to 5,500 tonnes crushing per day at a cost of Rs 80 crore. The group was also to set up plants of 12 MW capacity each at Ajnala, Gurdaspur, Nawanshahr and Batala at an investment of over Rs 300 crore. A2Z Infrastructure and Purab Infrastructure were to establish three plants to generate 20 MW of power each at Nakodar, Budhewal and Fazilka and a 25 MW plant at Morinda at a cost of Rs 450 crore.
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Power tariff hike on anvil
Chandigarh, May 5 But on the down side, the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) has decided to give a green signal to a hike in power tariff. The hike is expected to be announced over the next two to three days after the PSERC receives a letter from the state government committing itself to a subsidy amount. At the moment, sources in the PSERC have indicated that the power hike would be around 25 paise per unit. This is based on the assumption that the Punjab Government would commit to pay the Punjab State Power Corporation (PSPC) around Rs 3,000 crore. As per the demand in the Annual Revenue Requirement (ARR), the power corporation had demanded a 60 per cent hike in power tariff. But the regulators, keeping in mind both the additional financial burden on the consumers and the subsidy amount, have decided to hike the tariff by around 6 per cent across all categories. Even though the hike will be announced shortly, it will be implemented with retrospective effect from April 1. A senior official said that there were several factors that had to be taken into consideration while raising the power tariff. These included political compulsions, demands by the corporation and the process of de-bundling that had already started. Huge transmission losses were still a cause for concern, he said. Last time the power tariff was hiked in Punjab in April last year, the power bill went up by around 10 per cent. The hike this time is expected to be in line with the last raise. Domestic consumers will face the biggest hike, followed by industry and agricultural consumers. The SAD-BJP government has told the PSPC in no uncertain terms that no slip-up would be tolerated in a pre-election year. A senior official in the government said that surveys and feedback had suggested that people did not mind paying for power, but resented power cuts. “Officials in PSPC have been asked to have all power purchase agreements in place to ensure continuous power supply in the coming months.”
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Squall damages wheat stock in Malwa
Bathinda, May 5 The region has been hit by a squall for the second time since harvesting and procurement operations began in the third week of April. A squall on April 22 had damaged the standing crop and nearly halted the harvesting operations. Trees and electric poles were uprooted in various pockets of Bathinda, Mansa, Muktsar and Ferozepur. Ajaib Singh, District Manager, Markfed, Ferozepur, said about 2.2 lakh wheat bags had been submerged in rainwater at the Jalalabad grain market. The wheat bags were being shifted to safer places. Thousands of wheat bags at temporary purchase centres may also suffer damage if not shifted to a suitable place. Owing to slow lifting of procured wheat, lakhs of wheat bags are yet to be transported to storage points.
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Pak Sikhs say meat cooked at Panja Sahib, want shrine staff suspended
Islamabad, May 5 “We demand that an FIR be lodged and the culprits who cooked meat in our gurdwara
penalised,” community leader Sardar Bishan Singh told The Express Tribune. “The caretaker, along with the Muslim staff, cooked meat at Gurdwara Panja Sahib on Sunday,” said a member of the Gurdwara Panja Sahib Sewadar Society, Pritam Singh. “It is unfortunate for the Sikhs that custodians of their religious places, who are Muslims, have violated their faith,” said Bishan
Singh. Pritam Singh alleged that he had caught a staff member red-handed with meat in the gurdwara kitchen. “When I complained to the caretaker of the
gurdwara, Memrooz Khan, he rebuffed my plea,” he said. The board’s additional secretary and deputy administrator then conducted an inquiry and transferred the gurdwara staff. “We demanded that all employees involved in the act should be suspended, but the board refused to do so,” Rajan Singh
said. Bishan Singh said anyone who desecrated a religious place should be tried under Section 295 of the Pakistan Penal Code. The board’s deputy Administrator Faraz Abbas told The Express Tribune that he was not sure whether anyone had cooked meat at the
gurdwara, but on complaints by the community, the entire staff had been transferred.
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Khalsa College Imbroglio
Principal Daljit Singh, when contacted, admitted that the heads of these departments have been relieved as per the GNDU Calendar norms. “The decision has been taken as per the GNDU’s norms stipulated for the services and conduct of college teachers, which specified that no head can be designated in those departments which have less than four teachers. “Here, in these three departments, there were no teachers besides them. So, it was pointless to designate them as heads. But it would not affect the pay packages that they have been drawing at present,” he said. Ironically, it was Principal Daljit Singh who had appointed Prof Satinder Kaur as head of the history department when she was the only teacher there. “I was made the head by the Principal Daljit Singh three years ago,” said Prof Kaur.
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Burj village remains cut off
Anandpur Sahib, May 5 However, with the water level in the Sutlej rising a few days ago, construction work on the bridge over the river has come to a standstill forcing children and villagers to take unsafe routes to reach their destinations. While villagers and volunteers have constructed a large portion of the bridge, it could not be completed. Villagers had laid a temporary path. But due to the rise in the water level in the Sutlej, the temporary path got washed away. The bank of the river does not have enough water to support a boat, thereby making it difficult to cross the water body on boat. Villagers have descended a ladder from the upper portion towards the bed of Sutlej. People from Burj descend these stairs and walk towards Mataur after crossing 15 to 20 ft wide the river. People go further towards schools, offices and the city. Sarpanch of Mataur village, Surinder Singh, said though the depth of water is just 2 to 3 ft, its strong flow makes it difficult for children and women to cross the river alone. “Women and children are escorted across the river. It is very risky as someone may slip off the temporary ladder and fall into the river,” he added.Mataur village turns into an island during monsoon due to Sutlej’s fury. Gian Singh, a villager, said if the water level rises further, villagers would have no option but to take longer route to reach the city via Chandpur Bela village. In March 2009, Baba Labh Singh’s volunteers started the construction work of the 700-metre-long bridge being constructed at a cost of Rs 10 crore. Besides Baba Labh Singh, villagers are also contributing to the project, but have been unable to complete it. as there is no help from the government, rued villagers.
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Measures to control floods
Ropar, May 5 The phone numbers of the control room of the district revenue office are 01881-221157, executive engineer water management board 01881-222073, tehsildar Ropar 01881-221156, tehsildar Anandpur Sahib 01887-232015, tehsildar Chamkaur Sahib 01881-260400, tehsildar Nangal 01887-221030, executive officer municipal council Ropar 01881-222314, 225460, municipal office Morinda 0160-2630037, MC officer Anandpur Sahib 01887-232026 and BDPO officer Nurpur Bedi 01887-240424.
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29 health centres soon, says Health Minister
Patiala, May 5 “The Budget for these new centres will be Rs 342 crore. A total of Rs 68 crore would be spent on the purchase of latest machinery and the work would be completed by November this year. Talking about new appointments, she said the government would soon appoint 750 more doctors and 450 paramedical staff to solve the existing staff crisis. She further said these doctors would be appointed by a committee formed of senior PGI doctors. On being questioned about the sale of illegal drugs at various medical stores, she said whenever the department had received any information in this regard, they had taken necessary action and would continue to do so. About the usage of low-quality material for the re-construction of various health centres, she said a state-level committee had also been constructed in this regard and as soon as she gets any information in this connection, suitable steps would be taken. Presiding over a meeting of health officials of the district, she took a note of various works being done in the Health Department. During a meeting with a few NGOs and health officials she also announced construction of a dharamshala for those men who accompany their female family members for treatment at Mata Kaushalya Hospital. She said as they were not allowed to stay at the Kaushalya hospital, this dharamshala would take minimal charges for their stay. She further announced that the 5th 4-day ‘mela would be held at Patiala in August. Before this, this mela had been organised at Amritsar, Bathinda, Ferozepore and Ludhiana where thousands of people had undergone health check-ups. Principal Secretary of the Health Department Satish Chandra, Director of the Health and Family Welfare Department Ashok Nair, Patiala SDM Tejinder Singh Dhaliwal, civil surgeon Dr Jatinder Kaur were among those who were present during the stone-laying ceremony.
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Patiala police tops performance chart; Amritsar at the bottom
Patiala, May 5 While Patiala tops in overall performance with 65.8 net points, Amritsar fairs poorly ranked far behind at 25th spot with a mere 35.3 per cent points in the assessment. The performance of districts has been ranked on the basis of the survey conducted by the department itself under the direct supervision of the Punjab DGP for three months from January 1, 2011, to March 31. The ranking has been provided following the performance indicators set up to monitor the functioning of these districts in January, February and March 2011. “The parameters included points for action against gangs, traffic management, hit-and-run cases solved and action against terrorists while negative marking was done for escape from custody, crime in custody, corruption cases and undetected cases, claimed a senior police officer. After Patiala, the police district of Sangrur has performed brilliantly with 64.8 points, followed by Batala at third position with 64.1 points. Interestingly, the home district of the Chief Minister, Bathinda, ranks 16th in the chart, while Muktsar and Moga rank poorly at 24 and 23 points, respectively. Patiala SSP Gurpreet Singh Gill told The Tribune that their district had topped due to the hard work of officers and he would further make sure that they continue to work harder. The districts, where the present government had started commissioner system, have performed poorly in the survey with Amritsar ranked at the bottom of the table at 25th rank with 35.3 points. Jalandhar has also performed poorly with 17th rank and 44.4 points. Meanwhile, Ludhiana, another district with the commissioner system, has performed a little better with 51 points and ranked 12th in the table. He added that those districts which had minimum pendency scored high, those which failed in providing basic policing, fell behind. However, the Amritsar police bagged maximum negative marks for complaints of corruption and undetected cases. It is the only district which got two negative marks for corruption in the entire state.
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Canadian students on a mission
Patiala, May 5 Giving information, Dr Harshinder Kaur of Government Rajindra Hospital, Patiala, said they would be here not only to study the reasons behind these evils but also to apprise the people of the state. Dr Harshinder is a prominent social activist who is known for her anti-female foeticide efforts. Talking to The Tribune, Dr Harshinder, who is the coordinator of this project in Punjab, said: “Their main focus will be on schools and colleges of the state because it is important to apprise youngsters against these evils. Only then we can expect a society free from these menaces.” “They will also organise awareness camps and signature drives in villages where female foeticide cases are on the rise,” she said. She further said the students of both these universities were already working for the cause in Canada and had already taken the signatures of 2,900 persons, who have pledged not to give or take dowry in Canada. Also, 1,400 families had vowed not to indulge in female foeticide. Dr Harshinder said she was in Ontario recently at the behest of Harinder Singh Takhar, MPP, Mississauga-Erindale, and Minister of Government Services. “The local activists there admitted that female foeticide was practised there as well, and largely passed under the radar since the mainstream did not recognise or fully understand the reasons behind it. Some also confused the issue with abortion, or being anti-choice,” she said.
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Obituary
Chandigarh, May 5 A confidant of former Punjab Chief Minister and Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief, Capt Amarinder Singh, Sinha died today, just four days before completing five years as Chairman of the Punjab Public Service Commission. In May 2006, he resigned from the IAS to accept the new assignment as head of the PPSC. Had he stayed on in service, he would have retired in 2009. A postgraduate in History, Sinha was known to take decisions that at times would upset politicians. When Capt Amarinder Singh took over as Chief Minister, Sinha was handpicked not only as Principal Secretary to the CM but also as Secretary of the powerful Home Department. He held control of the Department of Information and Public Relations also. For the first 18 months of the Congress Government (2002-2007), he was an all -powerful bureaucrat. He took some exemplary steps in streamlining the govt working .Sinha was replaced by Suresh Kumar as Principal Secretary to the CM under pressure from ministers. Before he quit the IAS, he was Financial Commissioner, Development. Sinha was happy to be back in Patiala, this time on a constitutional post.
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Bold officer: Preneet
Patiala, May 5
“In the death of
Sinha, we have lost an efficient bureaucrat and an able administrator. He will always be remembered for his mannerism and boldness”, the minister said. Preneet
Kaur, accompanying the Vice-President on an official visit to Dhaka, spoke to Radha Sinha and expressed her sympathies. KS Sekhon laid a wreath on the body on Capt Amarinder Singh’s behalf. Surjit Singh Rakhra laid a wreath on behalf of Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh
Badal. — TNS
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Crime branch arrests senior officer of Citrus Council
Chandigarh, May 5 Nain is accused of being hand in glove with his wife Madhumita Nain while forming a firm (Global Agri Ventures), which supplied farm products, including vermi compost, to the council just in name. During investigation, the joint bank account of the firm had revealed a transaction of Rs 1.14 crore. Bills received from the company were passed without verification. The crime branch team led by SSP Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh today presented Nain before a Mohali court following his arrest in the Rs 87 crore scam which was unearthed in March 2010. The court has remanded Nain to police remand for four days. According to sources, the police has also secured the arrest warrants of Citrus Council senior manager Aikom Singh Dhillon and his wife Seerat Dhillon. More arrests could take place in the coming days. Aikom’s wife is also accused of being a partner in Global Agri Ventures. The police had earlier arrested owners of three fake firms who supplied various kinds of farm produce to the council in name only. Those arrested included Vipin Kumar Saini of Global Agri Company, Rajinder Singh of Vermi Compost and Yogesh Dutta of HA Agro. The other accused in the case included Vikramjit Singh Chimni, former CEO of Citrus Council, and a few others.
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Fatehgarh Sahib, May 5
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today cried foul, claiming an attempt was being made by the Congress to use the CBI to implicate its top leadership in a bribery case made out against its Chief Parliamentary Secretary Raj Khurana.
Jalandhar, May 5
Hike to be around 25 paise per unit
Amritsar, May 5