Bathinda, June 13
The hopes for getting justice have started generating among the minds of the kin of those who were killed in the Sikh genocide in Delhi in November 1984 as the trial of the murder case against former Member of Parliament (MP) and senior Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, is likely to be concluded in about three months.

It will be perhaps the first case where the court of law will pass a verdict on whether a political bigwig was involved in the anti-Sikh riots or not ever since more than 3000 members of the Sikh community were massacred in Delhi in the span of three days after the assassination of late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh security guards.

In an exclusive interview with TNS, HS Phoolka, senior advocate of the Supreme Court, who has been appearing in this case on behalf of the victims, said that the prosecution evidence in the murder case against Sajjan Kumar had been concluded on Thursday (June 9) in the court of the additional sessions judge, Karkardooma, Delhi.

“The case is now listed after vacations on July 6 for the statement of the accused Sajjan Kumar and others under Section 313 of the CrPC. This case was registered against Sajjan Kumar and others in 2005 on the recommendation of the Nanavati Commission of Inquiry. The case pertains to the killing of five persons in the Raj Nagar area of Delhi Cantonment Police Station,” he pointed out.

Phoolka, who has been camping at his native village Bhadaur, 50 km from here, due to the demise of his mother, said the case was likely to conclude within three months and he had hopes that victims of Sikh genocide would get justice for the first time ever since the massacre took place.

Phoolka informed that after the statement of the accused was recorded, defence evidence would be led in the court and thereafter, final arguments would be held on the case.

He said the case against Sajjan Kumar was registered about 21 years after the Sikh genocide. The allegations against Sajjan Kumar are that on the night of November 1, 1984, he visited the area and instructed his followers to kill Sikhs.

Then on November 2, 1984, Sajjan Kumar again addressed a meeting while standing on a police jeep and instigated people to kill Sikhs. He stated at this meeting, “Ek bhi Sikh bachna nahi chahiye. Jo Hindu Sikhon ko panah dete hai,unke bhi ghar jalaa do!” (Don’t spare any Sikh. Burn the houses of Hindus who provide shelter to Sikhs!) On hearing this, the mob started searching the homes of Hindus also.

Phoolka claimed that two officers of the CBI, including DSP Pangarkar and inspector Anil Yadav, who were the investigating officers, deposed before the court alleging that the Delhi Police intentionally conducted perfunctory investigations to shield Sajjan Kumar and other leaders.

Phoolka said if the victims succeeded in getting justice in this case, it would an effective deterrent against the communal riots in future in the country.

Moreover, the justice to victims of Sikh genocide would also secure the future of the nation, he added.

Bathinda, June 13
A three-member team of the Punjab State Human Rights Commission (PSHRC) today arrived in the city to investigate a complaint related to cremation of unclaimed bodies without conducting their post-mortem.

The complaint was submitted to the PSHRC last year by president of a local NGO, the Naujwan Welfare Society, Sonu Maheshwari.

Beginning the investigation, the team officials met the complainant and the president of another NGO, the Sahara Jan Sewa, which is allegedly involved in the cremation of unclaimed bodies without 
getting their post-mortem conducted. The officials also met the doctors of the local Civil Hospital.

Sonu today said he had sent the complaint to the Commission in July 2010 that unclaimed bodies reached the local Civil Hospital but some of them had been cremated without conducting post-mortem and the police proceedings.

Sonu had sought an inquiry into the irregularity.

He said the PSHRC team visited him today but he told the officials that he had already mentioned everything in his complaint.

President of the NGO Sahara Jan Sewa Vijay Goyal said the team had not demanded any record from him with regard to cremation of unclaimed bodies.

Goyal said that he told the team that they had already submitted their reply in this regard to the office of the PSHRC at Chandigarh.

Senior Medical Officer (SMO) of the Civil Hospital Dr Jarnail Singh said the hospital had handed over the relavant records and a copy of the report pertaining to the post-mortem of the bodies, to the PSHRC team.

It may be mentioned here that following the complaint by Sonu Maheshwari, the issue attracted the attention of not only the PSHRC but also of the people of this city.

Chandigarh June 13
The Punjab Government today ordered the transfers and postings of 12 IAS officers, including four deputy commissioners, and a PCS officer with immediate effect.

While C Roul has been posted as Principal Secretary, Department of Defence Services Welfare, Ashok Kumar Gupta would join as Secretary, Coordination; VK Sharma would be the new Secretary, Agriculture.

Hussan Lal, Secretary, Tourism and Transport, has been given the additional charges of School Education. Kahan Singh Pannu has been posted as the Joint Development Commissioner (IRD), Punjab. He would also hold the charge of Additional Commissioner, NREGA, in addition to Chairman, Punjab Pollution Control Board, Patiala.

Other postings include: Balwinder Singh, Special Secretary, Social Security, Development of Women and Children; Dharam Dutt Ternach, Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Hoshiarpur; Pirthi Chand, Director, Colonisation (Punjab); Mohinder Singh, DC, Gurdaspur; Rajat Agarwal, DC, Amritsar; Shruti Singh, DC, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, with additional charge of DC, Jalandhar, during training period of Priyank Bharti; Ravi Bhagat, DC, Faridkot; Uma Shankar, ACA, PUDA, Bathinda, also the charge of Joint Coordinator, Water Supply and Sewerage Projects, Mansa and Bathinda districts, with additional charge of Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Bathinda, and Chief Administrator, Bathinda Development Authority. 

Bathinda, June 13
The District Bar Association (DBA) today launched its official website www.
dbabathinda.com.

DBA president Rajan Garg, claimed it to be first of its kind in north India.District and Sessions judge, Bathinda, SK Aggarwal formally inaugurated the website in the presence of judges and advocates of the district courts.

Besides stating that the Bar was started at Qila Mubarak in 1952-1953, the website carries various details like names of the judicial officers, their designations, their court rooms and their locations, complete directory of the DBA members, cause list, names of the elected panel of the DBA etc.

Rajan Garg said the website was in its initial stage and the association was in the process of adding different unique programmes to it, including the messaging facility to keep each member aware of the happenings.

It would also have information regarding the vacancies and tests related to advocates besides the directions of the higher courts, he claimed.

Speaking further, Garg said the DBA was also collecting details to update the whole record of the library on the website. Once it is completed, everyone will be able to know about the availability of the books without wasting time in approaching the library staff, added Garg.

The District Bar Association is planning to add a feature that would contain information regarding holidays in the courts and the judges who are absent on a particular day. This would prove helpful to litigants.

Addressing the gathering, District and Sessions judge SK Sachdeva said, “Keeping pace with the modern era of information and technology and taking a march ahead of most of district bar associations in the country, the Bathinda DBA is taking a big leap by launching its website.”

“It will immensely help the members of the Bar, especially budding lawyers, litigants and general public. Litigants would be able to know the status of their cases with a click of mouse,” said Sachdeva, adding that “it is quintessential for a website to carry updated information and I am sure the DBA is aware of it.”

Chandigarh, June 13
Five years after the Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) was launched for providing protection to children, the Punjab and Haryana High Court heard that both the states had signed memoranda of understanding with the Centre for implementing the system.

The information was furnished to the High Court by way of affidavits filed by the two states. The affidavits came during the hearing of a petition filed by city-based advocate-cum-social activist Pankaj Chandgothia.

The development is significant as the scheme is directed to bring under one roof all programmes aimed at providing protection to children against trafficking and other “social ills”. It envisages centre-state liaisoning to achieve the desired results.

As the petition came up for hearing, the Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Justice Ajay Kumar Mittal asserted the petition had been rendered infructuous in view of the stand taken on behalf of the respondents.

In his petition, Chandgothia had said the Centre had framed the scheme in 2006. It was approved 2009 by the Union Cabinet. Under the scheme, the states and union territories are required to sign an MoU with the Central Government to come under the ICPS umbrella. Only after the signing of the MoU, social welfare scheme could be fully implemented.

The petitioner had said almost all states and UTs had adopted the scheme and signed up, except for some northern states. Punjab and Haryana continued to be the defaulter states, he had claimed.

Appointment set aside

The Punjab and Haryana High Court, in a significance judgment, has ruled that experience gained by an employee even before acquiring the minimum qualification will have to be taken into consideration by the government. The ruling by Justice Permod Kohli came in a writ petition filed by Priya Mahajan of Jalandhar, challenging the non-consideration of her claim for appointment as an English teacher by the Department of Technical Education and Industrial Training.

Allowing the writ petition, the appointment of Vandana Avasthi was set aside and the Technical Education and Industrial Training Department directed to appoint the petitioner to the post.

“The appointment of the petitioner shall relate back to the date other selectees were appointed. The petitioner shall also be entitled to all consequential benefits, including seniority, except the monetary benefits. However, her pay shall be fixed giving her notional benefit of increments”, the Bench held.

Bathinda, June 13
Deputy Commissioner Dr S Karuna Raju today visited Sangat Mandi to take stock of the ongoing development work there. He also held a meeting with the officials carrying out the development work in the town.

The DC inspected under-construction roads and directed the officials to complete the work at the earliest. He also took progress report of the ongoing sewerage work and the connections to 320 streetlights.

He said three reverse osmosis (RO) plants would be installed in Sangat Mandi for which sites had been identified. 

Moga, June 13
Former Chief Minister and President of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) Captain Amarinder Singh has announced that the state unit of the Congress would soon bring out a charge-sheet against SAD-BJP government listing its failures and atrocities committed on party workers during the SAD-BJP rule in the state.

Amarinder was talking to media persons after holding an interaction with the party workers of four assembly segments — Moga, Nihal Singh Wala, Dharamkot and Bhaghapurana here today.

He said a special team of the party was currently preparing the charge- sheet and it would be completed in the next couple of weeks. Although, he did not give details saying that it was still under preparation, Amarinder said it would focus on the failures of the state government on socio-economic issues, agriculture, environment, law and order, unemployment and other issues concerning the masses. He categorically said that atrocities committed on Congress workers would also be listed in the charge-sheet.

Meanwhile, he has asked all the district presidents of the party to document the cases of atrocities and police cases fabricated against the party workers. He said that at the time of Lok Sabha elections, there were about 30,000 such fabricated cases and the number has now gone up.

Captain Amarinder Singh, while claiming that the Congress would form the next government in the state, said the new government would constitute a commission of inquiry to be headed by a High Court judge, which would probe such cases of atrocities against the party workers. "The Congress has decided that after coming to power, all those found guilty of atrocities against the party workers will be punished as per the law,” he added.

Replying to a question on Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal visiting yoga guru Ramdev at a Dehra Dun hospital to extend support to the anti-corruption drive, Amarinder remarked, "Badal and Chautala supporting anti-corruption drive is a big joke because everyone knows that they themselves are among the corrupt politicians of the country.”

When asked whether corruption would be an issue in the coming Punjab elections, the PPCC President said, "Yes, it will be a big issue as the electorate has become more educated and aware of what is going in the political circles and they are in a better position to judge their performance".

He reiterated that the SAD-BJP government is lying about the financial condition of the state as the debts were mounting and the state does not have enough money to clear it. "As per our calculations, by the end of the term of the present government, there will be a total debt of about Rs 1,70,000 crores on Punjab,” he added.

Senior party leaders Lal Singh, Arvind Khanna, Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi, district president Jagdarshan Kaur, local MLAs and many other party leaders were present at the workers’ meet.

Abohar, June 13
The interrogation of Vinod Kumar, a mechanic who repaired fire-arms, and was arrested by the Abohar police on Saturday, has established that there is a strong link between the fake arms racket, which was busted by the Mansa police and the fake arms licence scam, which was unveiled by the local police, a few weeks ago.

During the interrogation, Vinod is believed to have confessed that country-made weapons were being supplied to him by Anil Midha, kingpin of the fake arms racket, which came to light in Mansa district. About 300 fake arms were recovered from various persons including eight policemen, gun house owners and others by Mansa police.

Anil Midha, who is presently lodged in Bathinda Central Jail, was running a gun house in Sirsa town of Haryana. Midha possessed six specially designed vehicles, which were used to supply cartridges to Maoists outside Punjab and to bring weapons from them back to Punjab and Haryana. Midha would purchase cartridges from various sources in Guruharsahai, Jalalabad, Moga and Abohar towns.

The local police recovered three fake arms licences and four country-made pistols of .32 bore from Vinod's house in Ludhiana when he was arrested. Later, one more pistol was recovered from him.

About 200 fake arms licences, mostly in the name of ex-servicemen and by using official stamps of district magistrates of various districts of militancy ridden Jammu and Kashmir, were recovered by the local police from the house of arms dealers, Harish Kumar and Raman Kumar (both brothers), who have been running the racket in Abohar.

Both the fake arms racket and fake arms licence scam rocked the state and put the police authorities and central and state intelligence agencies in a piquant situation.

The Mansa police authorities have already initiated the process of handing over the investigation of fake arms racket to the prestigious National investigation Agency (NIA) due to the fact that it was spread over various states of the country including those, which faced the Naxalite problem.

Varinder Singh Brar, SP, Abohar, said to further probe, the local police had been making efforts to question Anil Midha also. He added that Midha would be taken on police remand by securing his production warrant for June 15 from the relevant court.

He said though Vinod had been remanded to judicial custody, it was expected that the questioning of Midha would result startling disclosure, which he might have concealed so far.

He claimed that as the police was making investigation in a systematic manner, it was hoped that it would be able to reach the bottom of the scam shortly. 

Ferozepur, June 13
Thirty-two teams have been pressed into service to prepare Aadhar unique identity cards (UID) for all the citizens of this border district, revealed Raminder Singh, Commissioner, Ferozpur Division while talking to media persons during the formal launching of the process for preparing UIDs here today.

The Commissioner said that every team constituted for the purpose will have five machines at their disposal who will further establish centres at the ward levels catering to a strength of around 5000 persons at each centre.

The entire process shall be completed within eight months for which the DFSC has been given the task of coordinating the entire procedure of making the UIDs whereas the ADC (General) will be the nodal officer for the same. The Commissioner further said that the list of centres where the UID will be made, shall be released shortly.

Deputy Commissioner KK Yadav said that under the 
Centrally-sponsored scheme, UIDs shall be made for all the individuals above a month-old, and added that no fee or remittance shall be charged for it.

Yadav further said this will be a multipurpose card which shall be used for all kinds of government schemes like taking a gas connection, applying for ration card, communication and health services, passport issuance and renewals besides other utilities. He also said that biometric scanning of both hands and eyes, personal particulars of the individual and photograph will be required for the card which shall be prepared and sent to the card holder within 20 to 30 days by post.

On the occasion, ADC Basant Garg, SDM GS Pannu besides other officials were present.

Fazilka, June 13
The shopkeepers near the railway crossing at the Malout-Ferozepur chowk staged a protest and raised slogans against the railways and the civil administration for raising a wall on both sides of the railway crossing.

As a result, the path has been totally blocked for the pedestrians causing inconvenience to them.

Notably, the construction of a road overbridge has been completed on this railway crossing. Hence, the administration has closed the level crossing for traffic after raising a wall there.

The shopkeepers said the administration should have provided space at least for the pedestrians to pass through the railway crossing. Now, they will have to cross the ROB after covering a long distance for even minor work across the crossing.

Blood donation campaign: The local Civil Hospital would launch a month-long campaign for voluntary blood donation on the World Blood Donors Day from June 14 to July 13.

Giving details, Senior Medical Officer SP Garg appealed to the NGOs, clubs, political and religious organizations to come forward to contribute to this noble cause. He also appealed to the persons aged between 18 and 50 years to donate blood voluntarily.

Speaking on the occasion, Blood Bank in-charge Renu Dhuria said that with help of NGOs, particularly the Shri Singh Sabha Gurudwara and the Dera Sacha Sauda, hospital authorities have collected 2812 units of blood in one year against the target of 1080 units.

Dhuria said the Civil Hospital in Fazilka also catered to the need for 700 units of blood at the Civil Hospital in Abohar for seven months as the Abohar hospital blood bank was closed during that period for technical reasons.

Abohar, June 13
One person died on the spot while two others were seriously injured after a Rajasthan Roadways bus coming from Hanumangarh to Abohar reportedly hit the motorcycle by which they were travelling today in the evening.

Witnesses said Om Parkash of Azeemgarh, along with Ram Kumar and Vinod Kumar were returning to work after lunch break. As their motorcycle entered the college road, a Rajasthan Roadways bus coming from Hanumangarh hit the bike resulting in the death of Om Parkash. 
His companions were injured seriously and have been admitted to the Civil Hospital here. ASI Baljeet Singh, who led the police party to the site, said the bus has been seized. A case has been registered.

Abohar, June 13
Even as the number of cases of dog bite has mounted recently, the state government has so far not positioned anti-rabies vaccine in the civil hospitals and community health centres.

Consumer Movement chairman Sat Pal Khariwal said that concerned over the issue, Health Minister Sat Pal Gosain was on May 17 quoted saying at Ludhiana that anti-rabies vaccine worth Rs 2 crore will be rushed to the state-run health centres across the state immediately.

However, inquiries made from different hospitals and health centres revealed that no stock of the vaccine has so far been received from the Chandigarh-based directorate.

The victims of dog bite had to arrange vaccine by spending Rs 250 for each vial. The NGOs demanded that consignments of approved vials must be rushed and adequate stocks should be maintained at the health institutions, covering the primary health centres even in a remote area.

Efforts should also be made on a war footing to control stray dogs in towns and villages since incidents of stray dogs eating up animals and targeting kids had recently been reported.

Khariwal regretted that dog squads in the municipalities had not so far not been arranged.

Sangrur/Barnala June 13
Ranjit Singh, a farmer of village Kheri here, died of electric shock on Sunday night after he climbed on the electric pole to tighten the loose power cables allegedly at the behest of the PSPCL authorities.

Darshan Singh, the brother of the deceased, alleged that the PSPCL employees fled from the spot immediately after his brother died of electric shock. He added that the wires had turned loose due to recent high intensity winds and heavy rainfall. Meanwhile, Shanker, a resident of Khudi Kalan of Barnala, suffered electric shock from electric wires hanging from a collapsed electric pole. He was rushed to the Barnala civil hospital. — TNS

Bathinda, June 13
With the advent of new modalities in the early diagnosis of glaucoma, blindness can be prevented in most of the cases with newer drugs or surgery.This was stated by Prof Kirti Singh of Maulana Azad Medical College, Delhi, during a seminar on glaucoma organised by the Bathinda Ophthalmological Society here on Sunday. About 45 delegates participated in the seminar.

Dr Gursatinder Singh of Medical College, Patiala, unfolded the safety profile and efficacy of latest drugs to control glaucoma. Dr Charu Khurana from Delhi highlighted the role of public awareness about the early signs and symptoms of glaucoma. — TNS