PPSC back into hands of politicians
Chandigarh, July 8
The appointment of a politician as Chairman of the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) a few months before the assembly elections is being read as a political move. It certainly is not good news for the commission that is in the process of making recruitments.

Teachers await letters two months after selection
Chandigarh, July 8
Punjab Education Minister Sewa Singh Sekhwan’s decision to take it upon himself to issue appointment letters and posting orders to new teachers is resulting in much ill-will for the SAD-BJP government with half of the 5,164 teachers still awaiting orders, two months after their selection.

Kakkar’s service record not clean, HC told
Forest official had accused Minister Sud of embezzling funds
Chandigarh, July 8
Adding a twist to the ongoing controversy involving a senior minister and a forest officer, the State of Punjab today claimed “delinquent officer” RR Kakkar was facing three departmental inquiries and did not have a clean service record.

Amritsar, July 8
The SGPC and Akal Takht today expressed concern over reports that the Dera Sacha Sauda was reportedly providing arms training to its followers at its headquarters in Sirsa.

Talking to The Tribune, SGPC Chief Avtar Singh Makkar asked why those who claim to be spreading religion needed a private army.

He said that the Centre had sent out a stern warning to Baba Ramdev who had announced his plan to raise an army of his 11,000 followers a few days earlier. “Similarly, the government should act tough against Dera Sacha Sauda too.”

Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh said the SGPC should take the issue seriously and should raise it with the state as well as the Union Government.

“Today, this dera is raising a private army. Tomorrow, others may follow suit. This is not a good sign,” he said adding that the government should act immediately on the matter.

Chandigarh, July 8
Based on intelligence reports compiled in December, the Military Intelligence Directorate had issued an “advisory” asking army personnel to refrain from getting involved with Dera Sacha Sauda and other similar outfits.

The advisory had stated that sister intelligence agencies had reported that some ex-servicemen were imparting arms training to dera activists.

The dera is based in Sirsa and that belt has a large ex-serviceman population. Besides, the advisory mentioned that some serving personnel were also reportedly taking part in social activities associated with the dera like blood donation and prayer meets.

“Association with such organisations have implications for security and discipline,” an officer said. “One cannot rule out the possibility of contact with anti-social, anti-national or subversive elements at gatherings where hundreds of persons are present,” it added.

Some officers fear that these are places where the mind can be subverted by playing communal and religious cards, thereby affecting their frame of mind and distracting individuals from their primary duties.

Unit commanders had been directed to sensitise troops about the implications and fallout of associating themselves with organisations that have known to create political, religious and social controversies and tensions.

The head of the dera Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh has been booked by the CBI for several alleged offences, including murder and rape. Dera followers have also created law and order problems and have gone on rampage more than once to block moves by the government to take action against Ram Rahim.

Chandigarh, July 8
India is all set to allow the export of wheat, rice and sugar next week. The decision is likely to be taken during the meeting of the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on July 11.

It is learnt that the government will give the go-ahead to exporting 20 lakh tonnes of wheat and one lakh tonne of wheat products, besides 10 lakh tonnes of non-basmati rice and five lakh tonnes of sugar.

The burgeoning foodstocks, limited storage space and escalating cost of storing foodgrain has compelled the government to take this decision.

Dr BC Gupta, Secretary, Food and Public Distribution, Government of India, said the decision on export of foodgrain would be taken at the EGoM meeting to be under Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee coming Monday. “Wheat exports have been banned for almost four years now. Now that the wheat yield has shown a considerable increase, it has encouraged the government to opt for exports,” he explained.

India had banned the export of wheat in 2007 and of non-basmati rice in 2008 to stabilise domestic prices and contain food inflation. In 2010, the total wheat produced in the country was 82.4 million tonnes and rice 95 million tonnes.

As per the official data, on June 1, the country's wheat and rice stocks stood at 65.4 million tonnes and 37.8 million tonnes, respectively. Dr Gupta was here to participate in the regional conference on warehousing development and regulations organised by the PHD Chamber. He said the meeting would also deliberate on the Food Security Bill.

“The NAC has already submitted its draft proposals for implementation of the Bill, which will be discussed at this meeting. When the bill is cleared, India will need to produce 68 million tonnes of foodgrain- 35 million tonnes of rice and 27 million tonnes of wheat,” he said.

The secretary also said the ministry had asked the state governments to go in for integration of the UID identification process with the biometric and barcoded ration cards. “This will save us the effort and money for gathering information separately for the electronic ration cards, which in turn will help prevent pilferage of food items meant for public distribution,” he added. 

Chandigarh, July 8
The appointment of a politician as Chairman of the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) a few months before the assembly elections is being read as a political move. It certainly is not good news for the commission that is in the process of making recruitments.

For the past some years, successive governments have refrained from appointing politicians as heads of the commission. SK Sinha, a retired bureaucrat, who headed the commission till his demise in May this year, was, however, seen more as Amarinder’s man than a bureaucrat.

Since the scam that rocked the PPSC in 2002 when former journalist Ravi Sidhu was its chairman, no attempt has been made to cleanse the system. The commission remained mired in various controversies with Sinha himself coming under the Vigilance scanner.

Whichever party forms the next government in Punjab, the appointment of Harish Rai Dhanda, who resigned as SAD MLA from Ludhiana (West), does not augur well for the state. If the Congress forms the next government, it is unlikely to give him any task, he being a SAD loyalist. If the Akali-BJP government retains power, it will expect Dhanda to recruit those owing allegiance to the SAD-BJP. In either case, merit will be the casualty.

The Congress president, Capt Amarinder Singh, has questioned Dhanda’s credentials for the job while opposing the appointment of a politician to the important post. Congress Legislative Party leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal has said the post should go to a scholar if the appointments made are to be fair and on merit.

As the ruling alliance did not trust Sinha, recruitment procedures were delayed, several vacancies notified way back in 2009 have not been filled till date. The PPSC was assigned the task of recruiting 100 doctors in 2008 and 212 doctors in 2009. Despite claims of transparency, the appointment of at least 100 PCMS doctors created a controversy with the commission failing to provide information (under the RTI Act) on the selection criteria. The Tribune had carried a report on the matter, revealing that candidates with inferior qualifications but clout had been favoured.

Already, the Punjab Vigilance Bureau is investigating a case of alleged irregularities in the appointmen, though this had no direct link with the PPSC. The PPSC, established under Article 315 of the Constitution, is an independent body not subject to government control, charged with the responsibility of recruitment /management of public services.

At present the commission has seven members besides the chairman. The SAD-BJP government proposes to raise the strength to “adjust” some loyalists.

Chandigarh, July 8
Punjab Education Minister Sewa Singh Sekhwan’s decision to take it upon himself to issue appointment letters and posting orders to new teachers is resulting in much ill-will for the SAD-BJP government with half of the 5,164 teachers still awaiting orders, two months after their selection.

Earlier, the minister had forced the ouster of Director-General School Education (DGSE) Krishan Kumar when the latter issued appointment and posting orders to teachers rather than handing over the file to the minister as directed.

In early May this year, the minister had his way with the file of all selected 5,164 teachers being sent to him. At least half of these teachers, selected to teach maths and Punjabi, are yet to get their appointment/posting orders.

Sources say the minister’s office is issuing appointment letters in batches and lists are being sent periodically to the DPI (Secondary). According to government’s standing orders, the minister can only call for a file but the appointment orders are issued by the DPI. The DPI, Avtar Chand Sharma, who is on leave, could not be contacted. Agitated teachers, who have decided to start a dharna on the issue, today made a representation to Secretary, Education, Hussan Lal. They said their case had been delayed needlessly and that they might suffer further in case the election code is enforced in the state sooner than expected.

The Secretary assured the teachers that they would be issued their appointment letters along with posting orders next week and asked them to defer their proposed agitation till then. The issue was earlier brought to the notice of the Chief Minister

Jalandhar, July 8
The Centre has launched a campaign to counter the states which have been projecting many central schemes as their own and denying any credit to it. The Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry has circulated literature in this regard in various states.

About Punjab, the Union Government has stated that it has opened 1,167 primary schools and 737 high schools in the past six years (from 2004 to 2010) under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA).

Plus, buildings of 494 primary schools and 248 high schools have been built. As many as 17,568 additional rooms, 18,446 toilets had been provided and 4,813 teachers appointed in various schools.

Commenting in this regard, Congress MLA from Bholath Sukhpal Singh Khaira said the money to build additional rooms under the SSA was given to schools through Akali leaders in his constituency. “I took up the issue with the Director General of Schools and asked him that under which rules the funds meant for SSA were being routed through defeated Akali MLAs in various districts,” said Khaira. He added that the Director General of Schools didn’t respond to his query.

“Even foundation stones of these rooms had been laid by Akali leaders denying credit to the Centre for the funds that it had provided,” he said. “I also raised the issue in the Assembly urging the government to stop this practice,” he added.

Under the Prime Minister Rural Roads Scheme, 3,148 km of roads have been constructed against the target of 2,415 km.The Centre provides 60 per cent of the total cost under this scheme.

In this regard, Khaira said the road from Bholath to Kartarpur had been built under the PM’s Rural Roads Scheme. On the foundation stone, names of Akali leaders had been inscribed and there is no mention of either the local Congress MP and MLA or the Centre.

The Centre has also highlighted its contribution in other schemes such as Midday Meal Scheme, rural electrification, irrigation, Employment Guarantee Scheme and National Urban Renewal Mission, Indira Awas Yojna, rural telephone scheme etc.

Congress vice-president Kewal Dhillon said that the state government had gone bankrupt and was running the show with the money provided by the Centre under various flagship programmes. “It is disappointing that the state government was not giving any credit to the Centre for the funds,” he added. 

Kot Bhai (Muktsar), July 8
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, accusing Manpreet Badal, president of the People’s Party of Punjab, of hatching a conspiracy to destabilise the SAD, claimed that the people of Punjab would not allow Manpreet to succeed in his designs.

The CM bitterly attacked Manpreet during his tour of various villages in the Gidderbaha assembly segment today where he held Sangat Darshan and distributed grants for various development projects.

Manpreet Badal has been elected to the Vidhan Sabha from Gidderbaha four times in a row since 1995 on the SAD ticket. Badal, who spent Thursday night in a school building in Chappianwali village in Muktsar district, called Manpreet an opportunist who was trying to dismantle the goodwill the SAD enjoyed among the masses.

“The party made Manpreet Finance Minister. But Manpreet always tried to create a wedge between me (CM) and the people of Gidderbaha,” Badal alleged.

He said the Punjab Government had decided to give funds to hospitals for treating cancer patients. “Any official found showing laxity in making payment to the hospitals for treatment of cancer patients will be taken to task,” the CM said. 

Patiala, July 8
With the levying of cross-subsidy surcharge of 74.48 paise on every unit of power drawn by large-scale (LS) open access consumers in the state, the import of power through open access has come down drastically.

This has lead to a sudden increase in power demand in the state. In order to bridge the gap between demand and supply, Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) has imposed regulatory measures on industrial consumers.

Confirming this, Arun Verma, Director Distribution, PSPCL, said that prior to the imposition of the cross-subsidy surcharge, industrial consumers were daily drawing 150 lakh units (LU) through open access from sources other than PSPCL.

“But with the levying of the cross-subsidy surcharge on open access power, industrial units of Punjab have almost stopped purchasing power through open access. On July 6, the purchase was just 22 LU and on July 7, the figure was 38 LU.

“This sudden spurt in demand has forced the power corporation to impose weekly off on industry,” he said.

Verma added that PSPCL has planned the power requirement for summer assuming that Punjab industry would be importing at least 100 LU through open access. “But now, the power scenario has changed. We are left with no option, but to impose weekly off on industry,” he added.

“Even after the imposition of regulatory measures, the demand in the state recorded on July 7 was 2,004 LU whereas the availability was 1,940 LU - a shortfall of 64 LU,” said a PSPCL spokesperson.

Meanwhile, according to the new power regulatory measures imposed on industrial consumers with effect from July 6, general industrial consumers being fed from Category-II feeders will observe one weekly off whereas the arc/induction furnaces and rolling mills being fed from Category-II/Category-III feeders will observe two weekly offs.

PSPCL has planned the power requirement for summer assuming that Punjab industry will import at least 100 LU through open access, but on July 6, the purchase was just 22 LU
— Arun Verma, Director Distribution, PSPCL

n Earlier, industry was drawing 150 lakh units daily through open access from sources other than PSPCL

n With rain bringing down demand, PSPCL was forced to shut down some units

n Cross subsidy surcharge levied on power drawn by large-scale open access consumers

n Demand shifts from outside sources to PSPCL

general industrial consumers will observe one weekly off and arc/ induction furnaces and rolling mills will observe two weekly offs

Tarn Taran, July 8
The Tarn Taran police is in a tight spot following a plea by the mother of a 13-year-old rape victim to withdraw the case against a close relative of Punjab Rural Development Minister Ranjit Singh Brahampura.

Last month, following a complaint by Sukhpreet Kaur, mother of the victim, the police had booked Satnam Singh Kahalwan, a close relative of Brahampura. Kahalwan is the president of the management committee of the local Gurdwara Patshahi Panjvi, Chohla Sahib. Sukhpreet had also named her mother Gurjit Kaur for her alleged connivance in the crime.

However, the police failed to arrest the accused who, they claimed, were at large since the registration of the case. The family of the victim had earlier alleged that they were being pressurised to strike a compromise with the accused.

When The Tribune team today visited Sukhpreet’s residence at Bath Road in Tarn Taran, where she is living with her second husband, it was found locked.

Their neighbours said that they had no idea regarding the whereabouts of the family which went away without informing anybody.

Information gathered by the TNS revealed that Sukhpreet had left the girl with her mother Gurjit Kaur after she parted ways with her first husband and remarried. At that time, the victim was two years old.

The case took a turn on June 19 when the police asked Sukhpreet to produce the girl for taking blood samples and swab for DNA test. Sukhpreet declined the same in writing while requesting the arrest of the accused, said SP Tejinder Singh Maur who is probing the case.

The next day, she approached the police to withdraw the case. She said that she had filed the complaint due to some “misunderstanding” and she would not have any objection if the police closes the case.

Maur said, “We have informed our higher officials about these developments and are waiting for their directions.” He said while the police could do nothing in the case as Sukhpreet had backtracked from the complaint, but action may be initiated against her for giving wrong information.

Dr Shamsher Singh, Senior Medical Officer, Civil Hospital, said they are waiting for the final report of the vaginal swab sent to the laboratory for the confirmation of the rape charges.

However, legal experts point out that the police department cannot cancel the case on its own. “The Police Department has to move court for cancelling the same as the crime is of very serious nature,” said Pawan Bhardwaj, a senior advocate at the district courts, Amritsar. “It all depends on the final medical reports. If these confirm the rape, then the offence will remain as the victim is a minor,” he added.

On the medical reports, Maur said if the medical reports confirm rape, even then, they cannot hold Satnam Singh as accused unless a DNA test of both the victim and accused is conducted. However, Sukhpreet had already refused to produce the victim to take samples for conducting the DNA test, he added. 

Chandigarh July 8
Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Capt Amarinder Singh today asked Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal to also spell out the post-retirement role of Director General of Police PS Gill 
who retires on September 30, 2011.

“Now that you have announced that he will continue till his superannuation, you should also tell the people of Punjab whether he is will be your party candidate from Moga”, Capt Amarinder said. Reacting to Sukhbir’s statement that he had asked the DGP to listen to people’s grievances, the PCC chief asked:

“How many other officers have you asked to do the same?” Hearing people’s problems is part of any officer’s job, Amarinder Singh remarked.

The former Chief Minister said the DGP was working in a specific area with a specific purpose.

Moreover, he had made it known that he would contest from Moga as an Akali Dal candidate.

“He should have gracefully demitted office or at least recused from the top job in the police”, Capt Amarinder observed.

Mohali, July 8
With an eye on the elections, the Punjab Government has come up with yet another decision to appease the landowners whose land has been acquired for different development projects in Mohali.

In a recent meeting of the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) chaired by Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, it has been decided that the land-pooling scheme will also be offered to those whose land is acquired for the development of the roads.

Under the land-pooling scheme, the residential and commercial plots are offered to the landowners against the land being acquired. Earlier, the government offered the scheme only to those who land was acquired for residential, institutional, industrial or integrated mixed land use. The landowners whose land was acquired were simply offered land compensation.

“The anomaly has been removed. It will also make the land pooling more attractive for the landowners,” said Chief Administrator of GMADA Saravjit Singh.

The government is also contemplating to offer a bigger commercial site to the evacuees under the land-pooling scheme. It had been seen that in the acquisition of land for the Aerocity project, around 15 per cent of the landowners had opted for the land- pooling and the remaining 85 per cent had to be paid the land compensation of around Rs 980 crore, indicating that the scheme was not popular among the landowners.

The officials feel that lesser acceptability of the land-pooling means that the GMADA would have to take more loans from financial institutions and repay back the amount along with the interest.

Recently, the state government had also amended its oustees policy, following which the acquisition agency would have to provide a built-up house on a preferential basis within two years from the date of taking possession of their land.

The policy makes it mandatory for a private developer to give adequate land compensation and a built-up house, if the acquired land includes a dwelling unit. The benefit will be in addition to the residential plot to be offered to the landowner. 

Ropar, July 8
While the government claims that the transparent e-auctioning will normalise the skyrocketing rates of the sand and gravel, reports from the Ghanauli area suggest that instead of the fixed rate of Rs 410 per acre, it is being sold at much higher rates. The sand and gravel mines with an area less than 5 acres were e-auctioned recently under which the contracts were awarded from July 1 to June 30, 2014.

“A labourer charges Rs 150 for loading a trolley with raw material, Rs 200 are spent on covering distance from mines to crushing unit, Rs 170 is paid as royalty and Rs 400 is spent on cleaning it. Per 100 per cubic ft of gravel is available at Rs 920 and expenses on it are Rs 410. In such a situation, it will not be possible to sell the gravel at Rs 380,” said the crushing unit owners.

Meanwhile, District mining officer HS Pannu said the contracts of mines in Aaspur, Nanowal and Bela Dhiani village have been given on contract to Sukhpal Singh at Rs 260 per mine per acre. Similarly, contract of mines at Kakrala has been given to Hardeep Singh at the same rate and that of Bhanam, Sainsowal, Brahmpur and Bhaggal village have been given to Kiranjit Singh.

For selling the sand and gravel, 10 places have been fixed. These would be available from Ropar at Rs 560, from Kiratpur Sahib at Rs 530, from Anandpur Sahib at Rs 380, from Nurpur Bedi at Rs 560, from Bela at Rs 830, from Purkhali at Rs 740, from Ghanauli at Rs 410, from Bharatgarh at Rs 380, from Chamkaur Sahib at Rs 875 and from Nangal at Rs 380 per 100 cubic feet.

Abohar, July 8
Significant developments have taken place in the fake arms racket and licence scams that had surfaced in the Malwa region of Punjab and neighbouring Sriganganagar region of Rajasthan.

Ferozepur District Magistrate Kamal Kishore Yadav has cancelled all the licences that had been issued for .352 bore pistol (prohibited weapon) by different licensing authorities in Nagaland from March 24, 1987 to January 9, 2007.

The persons in possession of such weapons have been directed to deposit the same with the nearest police station within 15 days. Those who fail to comply with the directions will face legal proceedings.

Meanwhile, the district court has rejected the bail plea of two Abohar-based arms dealers who figure prominently in the fake arms licence scam.

Investigation by the Mansa police indicated that many licences were prepared through a gun shop located outside the sub-divisional complex here.

The police had booked Harish Vij and his brother Raman Vij under Sections 471, 468, 467, 465 and 420 of the IPC and 25, 27, 54, 59 of the Arms Act after conducting raids at their houses in their absence.

The Vij family had fled from town immediately after the scam came to light, but family members returned without the brothers.

The district court had stayed their arrest on May 21 till June 7 and the stay was extended later, sources said.

The same has now been withdrawn as the district police claimed that incriminating documents were found in some containers inside their house.

Sources in the Border Security Force and the army had clarified that investigation over the recovery of photographs of their personnel during the raids along with application forms for obtaining arms licences had also been undertaken.

The police has also nabbed arms mechanic Vinod Kumar of Ludhiana who had been working at a gun house in Jalalabad west and was identified as one of the suspects. The police had also seized some weapons and licences from him.

In another development, the Sriganganagar police, on a tip-off from a central intelligence agency, confirmed having nabbed one Jeet Ram and seized a 7.62 mm pistol. This led to the arrest of Jagdish Naik of Ashok Nagar and seizure of .32 bore pistol from his possession.