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controversy over Birs
Hansi-Butana Canal Wall |
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11 booked for transferring land illegally
Sikhs in Lahore barred from celebrating festival
No room for complacency, warn Cong leaders; Capt projected CM-candidate
BJP reviews working of MCs headed by its nominees
MoU with New York college on training police personnel
Central grant for five PTU colleges
Canalise Swan, says Rana KP
Education Dept to decide on promotions on August 8
Not enough staff to implement Right to Service Act
CIC to address complaints through video-conferencing
Goods, cash stolen from tourist bus
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controversy over Birs Tribune News Service
Amritsar, July 17 Addressing mediapersons here today, Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh said, “The matter of printing birs with gold-enriched ink is linked to the respect of Guru Granth Sahib and it should not be given political colour. All Sikh organisations should refrain from going to the media over the issue.” This statement of the Jathedar was apparently aimed at the war of words between the SGPC and the DSGMC that began after the controversy. He said a three-member committee formed by the SGPC to investigate the matter had submitted its report to the Akal Takht and the five Sikh high priests would discuss it at their meeting on July 22. The committee comprises Bhai Mal Singh, Giani Bharpur Singh and Bhai Mann Singh. He said whosoever was guilty in the matter would be punished. The Jathedar urged the DSGMC and other Sikh outfits who have called a meeting in this regard in Ludhiana on July 19 to call off the meeting. “They should cancel the meeting and instead send their representative to the meeting of Sikh high priests to present their side of the story, besides giving suggestions over the issue,” he said. Responding to another query over the “rivalry” between the SGPC and the DSGMC, he said SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar and DSGMC chief Paramjit Singh Sarna should work together for the welfare of the community. It may be noted here that an NRI and his Phagwara-based aide had got some birs printed from a private publisher whose identity is not known. The birs printed in golden letters were given at historic gurdwara in Sang Dhesian village near Goraya, Gurdwara Sukhchain Sahib, Phagwara — both under SGPC control — and Gurdwara Singh Sabha, Model Town, Phagwara. These birs reportedly had some spelling mistakes, which sparked a row. The SGPC has the exclusive rights for publication of Guru Granth Sahib worldwide. The Jagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Act promulgated by the state government in 2008 also banned printing of Guru Granth Sahib by any private publisher except the SGPC.
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Hansi-Butana Canal Wall
Patiala, July 17 Farmers from Dharmheri, Sassi Gujaran, Sassi Thay, Haripur and Hassanpur said all they had seen so far was a war of words between the Congress and SAD-BJP over the issue. “ While the blame game is on, we do not see anything being done by any party to save the villages from the fury of the floods. We are now planning to sit on an indefinite fast in case the state government fails to find a solution within a week,” said Ripdaman Singh of Haripur. Jaswant Singh Shergill and Pyara Singh of Sassi Gujaran village said nobody seemed bothered about the plight of the families living in constant fear of floods. Former Punjab Vidhan Sabha Deputy Speaker, Bir Devinder Singh, said it was surprising that neither the CM nor the Leader of the Opposition Rajinder Kaur Bhttal or PCC leader Capt Amarinder Singh had visited the site where Haryana was raising a wall.”
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11 booked for transferring land illegally
Ferozepur, July 17 Acting on the complaints lodged by Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Ferozepur, two separate cases were registered against seven and four persons under Sections 420, 465, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the IPC. In the first case, seven persons - Kuldeep Singh, Ranjit Singh, Nishan Singh, Lakhwinder Singh, Kashmir Singh, Daljit Singh and Surinder Singh took possession of about 80 kanals of forest land after getting its ownership transferred in their name by creating bogus documents. The other case was registered against four persons - Amarinder Singh, Lakhmir Singh, Daljit Singh and Raunak Singh - in Makhu police station for their alleged involvement in getting about 108 kanals transferred in their name with fake papers. Both pieces of land are located in Gatti Hari Ke forest belt of this district. Information gathered by The Tribune revealed that police authorities were investigating whether revenue officials were involved in this fraud or not. They were also trying to ascertain how many trees on the forest land had been felled by these miscreants. In the past few years, the forest areas, which are under the occupation and ownership of the state Forest Department, have come under grave threat from unscrupulous elements as a large numbers of trees were being felled and encroachment on forest land was being done under political patronage. Many persons had managed to get themselves registered as cultivators on the forest land in the official revenue records with the connivance of revenue officials in this district in the past. Harsh Kumar, Conservator, Forest, Ferozepur, while admitting the threat to tree cover and forest land in the district, said that efforts were being made to protect these from unscrupulous elements.
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Sikhs in Lahore barred from celebrating festival
Islamabad, July 17 The police was deployed outside the gurdwara to prevent the Sikhs from holding a religious function until after the end of Shab-e-Barat, which falls tomorrow. Gurdwara Shaheed Bhai Taru Singh at Naulakha Bazaar in Lahore was built in memory of a Sikh saint who was executed in 1745 on the orders of the Mughal Governor of Punjab, Zakaria Khan. Every July, Sikhs have held a religious ceremony to commemorate his sacrifice. Though the gudwara was taken over by the Evacuee Trust Property Board after Partition, Sikhs were allowed to continue using it with few restrictions. Four years ago, the Dawat-e-Islami claimed the gurdwara was located on the site of the grave of a 15th century Muslim saint, Pir Shah Kaku. The group claimed Kaku was the grandson of Baba Fariduddin Ganjshakar, an "implausible” claim since Ganjshakar died in 1280 while Kaku died almost 200 years later in 1477, the daily reported.
— PTI
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Ex-Finance Minister Manpreet teaches austerity at rallies
Nawanshahr, July 17 Addressing a series of meetings at Daulatpur, Ghataron, Bhangal Kalan and Urapar villages in the district today, Manpreet was at his imaginative best: "I have not come to you with any personal or political motive, but to share the psychology of parents. As parents do not hesitate in bearing the hardships to ensure better future of their children, similarly we all should practise austerity measures so as to leave a prosperous Punjab for the coming generations.” A former Finance Minister who has been striving to present his fledgling political outfit as an alternative to the SAD-BJP coalition and the Congress in Punjab, Manpreet said: “In order to wipe out problems like poverty, unemployment, illiteracy and corruption from the state, you think of an alternative other than the SAD-BJP combine and the Congress.” Substantiating his point with an example, the PPP chief said at times when a patient does not respond to the treatment of a specialist doctor at some major hospital, the medicine of a roadside ‘vaid’ can do wonders. “The pride of the state will be restored only by making it debt-free…the system of governance will be completely reformed to suit the common man if the PPP is voted to power," said
Manpreet.
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No room for complacency, warn Cong leaders; Capt projected CM-candidate
Chandigarh, July 17 Each leader spoke his heart out and the style of functioning of the leadership and prevalence of sycophancy came under severe attack. But there was near unanimity on one issue - Capt Amarinder Singh as the undisputed leader who would be projected as the party’s chief ministerial candidate. Unlike their usual selves, Union leaders like Ambika Soni and Ashwani Kumar made a critical evaluation of the state of affairs within the party saying, “You must be in touch with ground realities to succeed in the elections.” Party leaders reportedly advised caution against complacency saying that it wouldn’t be as easy for the Congress to take on the SAD-BJP alliance as many believe. CWC member Jagmeet Brar reportedly stated that Punjab would be the “trailer” in the bigger scheme of things for the Congress as the party did not have great prospects in the other two states, UP and Goa, which are going to the polls after Punjab. Party leaders did not speak in one voice. While some leaders like Rajinder Kaur Bhattal cautioned against inducting former Khalistan supporters into the PCC, former PCC president Shamsher Singh Dullo and another CWC member Mohinder Singh Kaypee wanted that the party should also speak for the 35,000 victims of terrorism. Dullo said that while it was good that the Prime Minister had announced relief for the victims of 1984 riots, the party must also think about terrorist victims as well. However, Ashwani Kumar and Ambika Soni are believed to have aired a lot of grievances about not being informed or taken along on PCC matters. But both the leaders virtually projected Amarinder as the party’s chief ministerial candidate.
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BJP reviews working of MCs headed by its nominees
Bathinda, July 17 The Tandon committee is learnt to have submitted its report to the state BJP leadership a few days ago. The committee, in view the coming assembly elections in the state, is taking stock of the functioning of the municipal corporations and boards and corporations headed by BJP nominees. The two-year term of all the 14 BJP Chairpersons of the Improvement Trusts expired on June 30. The party leadership is in a dilemma whether to recommend another term for all the chairpersons or replace the five against whom complaints have been pouring in. It has been reportedly decided to keep the case of five chairpersons of Bathinda, Sangrur, Batala, Nabha and Phagwara pending. When contacted on the phone, Tandon refused to give details of the report.
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115 plastic bag units found violating norms during raid
Patiala, July 17 Following directions from PPCB chairman KS Pannu, 24 teams comprising senior Board officials were constituted to conduct surprise checks. By the time of filing of this report, 145 units had been inspected. Of them, 115 were found violating the pollution norms. PPCB sources said the checks were conducted following concrete information that majority of the plastic carry bag manufacturing units were flouting norms. Pannu said, “As per rules, no person can manufacture, stock, distribute or even sell any carry bag made of virgin or recycled or compostable plastic, which is less than 40 microns in thickness. There has to be a print line mentioning the name, registration number of the manufacturer and the thickness on every carry bag. Instead of meeting the prescribed norms, majority of the units were manufacturing carry bags that have been banned by the state government.” Meanwhile, the plastic carry bag samples that were seized during the raids have been sent to the Central Institute of Plastic Engineering and Technology, Amritsar, to further ascertain the exact composition and the thickness of these bags. “Stringent steps are being taken by the Board to ensure compliance with the safety norms,” said Pannu.
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MoU with New York college on training police personnel
Chandigarh, July 17 Principal Secretary (Home) DS Bains here today said the visiting team from New York had proposed a two-way interaction programme between the police forces of New York State and Punjab -- five to 10 high-ranking police officials from Punjab would get a week’s training in New York and a team of five officials with different areas of expertise would visit Punjab in the first phase. The main aim of the joint venture would be to train and motivate the police personnel to perform better, Bains said. During a debriefing session at the Punjab Bhawan today, Dr Maria Haberfeld, leader of visiting US team, said she was impressed with the quality of training being imparted to personnel at the police training colleges in Phillaur and Jahan Khelan. Haberfeld suggested that new topics like manpower and resource management, leadership development and better deployment of the force should be introduced in the police training syllabus. Also, she said the police force in the state was severely under-staffed and it needed a system for recognising and rewarding good work so as to motivate the delivery system. Expressing concern over the long duty hours, sometimes even 14 to 16 hours a day, she said that perspective planning for shift work could resolve this problem. — TNS
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Central grant for five PTU colleges
Jalandhar, July 17 The National Project Implementing Unit constituted by Ministry
of Human Resource Development and the State Project Implementing Unit will sign an MoU on July 31, following which grants will be given to the
five colleges. The selected colleges are: Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Ludhiana, SBS College of Engineering and Technology, Ferozepur, Giani Zail Singh College of Engineering and Technology, Bathinda, Beant College of Engineering and Technology, Gurdaspur, (all government aided colleges) and Chandigarh Engineering College, Mohali. Each college would receive a grant of Rs 10 crore for developing infrastructure for graduate and undergraduate courses. While 25 per cent of the cost would be borne by the PTU on behalf of the state government, the rest would be paid by the Centre through the World Bank. PTU Vice Chancellor Dr Rajneesh Arora said the project was started last year. “A decision in this regard was taken during the 5th National Steering Committee meeting held on June 29 at Delhi. Applications from 89 state-funded engineering colleges from 18 states and two Union Territories were selected”, he said.
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Tardy work on Golden Temple Plaza invites ire of shopkeepers, pilgrims
Amritsar, July 17 The slow pace of work, which started a couple of months earlier, is causing inconvenience to pilgrims as well as traders, besides adding to the traffic chaos around the shrine. “The government agency executing the work of shifting various pipelines has put up tin sheets in front of our shops. And the work has been at a standstill for the past five days. This has taken a toll on our business with a 50 per cent drop in the number of customers,” lamented Kuljeet Singh. These shops are right next to the main entrance of the Golden Temple where the SGPC’s information office is situated. The SGPC officials at the information office also complained that pilgrims were facing inconvenience due to the slow progress in work. SGPC Secretary Dalmegh Singh said he had taken up the matter with the authorities in Chandigarh. Hussan Lal, Secretary, Department of Tourism, said the pre-construction work was being carried out by the Galiara Project team while the PWD (B&R) would take care of the construction work. Sources said tenders for the construction work were yet to be floated. Deputy Commissioner-cum-Galiara Project Director Rajat Aggarwal said the work had come to a standstill as they had encountered the problem of seepage twice. He said they had sought the help of Design Associates Inc to facilitate technical help in this regard.The firm would be asked to permanently depute some technical staff there. The DC said they hoped to complete the pre-construction work at the site before July 31.
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Canalise Swan, says Rana KP
Nangal, July 17 He demanded that the Punjab Government should award special compensation to the farmers, who have suffered losses due to floodwaters of the Swan, pending which the Congress, along with the affected farmers, would launch an agitation. “The Swan rivulet was earlier known as sorrow of the Una district of Himachal Pradesh. However, now it has become a sorrow for the farmers of the Nangal region,” he added. Due to canalisation of the river in Himachal, the floodwater of the rivulet entered the fields on Friday in the Punjab areas and destroyed the crops and other infrastructure. “The Punjab Government has not done anything to save the farmers of the Nangal region from floods, despite assurances from Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, who had visited the area last year,” said Rana. While the Himachal Government got Rs 300 crore sanctioned from the Centre for the canalisation of this rivulet, the Punjab Government failed to spend even a single penny for canalisation of the 10-km stretch of the Swan river falling in its area before it merges with the Sutlej. He added that earlier the floodwater used to enter areas in HP and the damage was less in the Nangal region. However, since Himachal has canalised the stretch of river falling within its area, the impact of floodwater has been shifted to the Nangal region.
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Education Dept to decide on promotions on August 8
Patiala, July 17 Giving information in this regard, senior functionary in the department informed that the department had prepared a list of 1,000 masters for promotion. “The remaining vacancies will also be filled soon as we have already demanded more cases for promotion. This includes cases from seniority number 12,001 to 13,502 for general candidates and 13,001 to 14,000 for reserved category (male members). The department has directed the Circle Education Officers (CEOs) to submit these cases within 15 days so that the remaining vacancies could also be filled at the earliest. There will be no vacant posts in the near future,” he added further. There are 1,665 posts of headmasters in the Government High Schools throughout Punjab, out of which 1,147 are vacant. This means nearly 69 per cent seats are vacant. The seats for the post of headmaster by direct recruitment quota are almost filled, but majority of the posts that were to be filled after promotion of masters are vacant. This is for the first time that a combined list of male and female masters, based upon their seniority, has been prepared for promotions. Earlier, the lists of male and female teachers were prepared separately for promotions and the department would consider 50 per cent cases of males and 50 per cent cases of females. — TNS
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Not enough staff to implement Right to Service Act
Nangal, July 17 As against the sanctioned posts of 18 District Treasury Officer in the state, there are just 13 permanent officers, five temporary and only 11 are coming to work. Similarly, of the 72 sanctioned posts for Treasury Officer, 56 are permanent and 16 are temporary postsand only 30 are coming to work. “The lack of staff obviously means that each employee is over burdened. The revenue officers play crucial role in the lives of the pensioners, in-land record documentation, awarding compensation for the land acquisition, crop loses and other works,” said Pamma. The Punjab Government has issued directions to introduce the Right to Service Act from August 15 onwards, wherein 47 civil services and 20 services related to the police would be provided in a given time frame. If the officer concerned fails to deliver, a complaint against him or her could be made to the area SDM. For the second time, Deputy Commissioner concerned could be approached. “The very purpose of introducing such an Act is defeated when enough workers are not there. This will add to the burden of the existing over-burdened revenue officials,” he added, appealing the government to fill up the vacant posts at the earliest. Similarly, the information reveals that there is a dearth of steno/typists at the revenue offices, district treasurers, assistant treasurers, peons and sewadar book binders and senior assistants in the state. Besides battling the staff shortage, 14 of the treasuries in state are running from rented accommodations or premises of the offices of other departments. The treasury office at Ferozepur is being run from the Red Cross Society building, Khamano office is being run from a school building, Tanda office is working from a government school building, Kartarpur office is being run from sub-tehsil building, Bhugpur office works from a single room at the sub-tehsil complex, Noor Mahal office is working from the BDPO office, Raikot office is being run from a rented space at the Raikot Cooperative Agriculture Service Society Limited, Qadian office is being run from MC office building, Khadoor Sahib is run from the SDM office, Nurpur Bedi office is run from the panchayat samiti building, Nangal office is being run from the BBMB building and Mohali office is run from other government office’s building.
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Residents demand completion of Sirhind rly bridge
Fatehgarh Sahib, July 17 “We have to travel extra 3 to 4 kms just to cross a small stretch under the bridge. The area is now divided into two parts by the railway lines. Problem aggravated when the open route under the incomplete bridge was closed around four months back,” said Mangat Rai, a resident of Brahmanmajra. Two agencies, including the PWD B&R and the Railways are involved in the construction of the over bridge for the past two years. “We have completed the construction. The delay is from the Railways side, which has recently initiated the construction of the incomplete patch. Once the Railways complete its portion of the bridge, it will be connected with the section made by the PWD B&R,” said officials of the PWD B&R. “The Rs 16.5 crore project railway over bridge will be complete in the next four months,” said XEN of PWD B&R NP Singh.
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CIC to address complaints through video-conferencing
Ludhiana, July 17 Public information officers (PIOs) would earlier deliberately show the files as lost to conceal information from RTI activists, said Chief Information Commissioner Ramesh Inder Singh who held a special meeting with department heads at the Circuit House. “Partly, there is the problem of shortage of staff as also paucity of funds. But largely, it is the mindset of the employees who do not want to share information. This mindset has to be changed,” he said. He said RTI applications could be reduced by 80 per cent if the government departments highlighted their schemes and projects on the website. — TNS
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Goods, cash stolen from tourist bus
Amritsar, July 17 Group leader Sri Ram said: “We discovered the theft when we returned from a visit to the Golden Temple, Durgiana Temple and Jallianwala Bagh. All the goods procured by the tourists were gone and so was Rs 1.50 lakh in cash.” The victims have approached the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and the district administration for help. Prithavi Raj, Station House Officer, Kotwali, said nobody had approached him for filing a case in this regard.
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Amritsar, July 17
Fearing floods, residents of several villages along the Hansi-Butana canal embankment on the Punjab-Haryana border, 45-km from here, met today and decided to go on fast in case the government failed.
