Tatiana (Haryana), July 20
The big fight between Punjab and Haryana over the construction of a ‘wall’ by the latter along a 4-km stretch of the Hansi Butana canal could be a hullabaloo over nothing.

Even as political tempers in the two states are on the rise, a visit to the site revealed that Haryana is building only a toe wall along this 4-km stretch of the Ghaggar bundh, which runs 52 km at a stretch between Khanauri in Sangrur district of Punjab to Kurail in Kaithal district of Haryana.

The Hansi Butana canal runs along the bundh adjoining this village. A toe wall is being constructed along the bundh as it was breached last year, leading to widespread damage to roads and other infrastructure in Haryana.

Punjab has been claiming that Haryana is building a concrete wall along the Hansi Butana canal and that this will act as a barrier and stop the floodwaters of the Ghaggar, inundating hundreds of villages in Punjab. A visit to the site revealed that while the Hansi Butana canal itself acted as a barrier to the spread of floodwaters, the underground wall being constructed by Haryana was being done only to strengthen the traditional bundh.

Due to frayed tempers on both sides of the border, a visit to the site is difficult. The Haryana Government has put up a police picket on Kaithal Road just as one takes the kutcha road to the bundh site and has restricted entry to the area.

Punjab Irrigation Minister Janmeja Singh Sekhon, who inspected the site along with senior officials today, was confronted by Haryana officials who contradicted his claims. While Sekhon had a point that the siphons which take the Ghaggar water from under the Hansi Butana canal had partially silted and caused water to collect around the site, he had to admit that Haryana was only constructing a toe wall.

Haryana Irrigation Superintending Engineer Arun Malik said the creek bundh at Tatiana was there since 1959 and showed a then notification to prove so. He said the 4-km stretch of the bundh had been breached twice in 1993 and last year following which the Cheeka- Patiala road had been washed away at several places. Malik said work on the toe wall started after the problem was referred to the IIT, Roorkee. The sole purpose was to prevent seepage to ensure the bundh was not breached again.

Meanwhile, there is conflict on the amount of water which can flow through the siphons constructed below the Hansi Butana canal. Minister Sekhon and Akali leader Prem Singh Chandumajra claimed that the siphons had gathered silt and that only part of the pr ojected 1.62 lakh cusecs of water could pass through these. The villagers also claimed that the silting of the siphons had let to water accumulating in the area. Haryana officials, however, claimed they had desilted the siphons before the onset of the monsoon.

They claimed the siphons spread over 1,400 ft with a height of 23 ft could easily handle the Ghaggar when in spate.

Dharmheri (Patiala), July 20
Demanding immediate dismantling of the Hansi-Butana canal, Irrigation Minister Janmeja Singh Sekhon today said that if the canal remained, hundreds of Punjab villages along the Ghaggar would remain vulnerable to floods.

After visiting a stretch of the Hansi-Butana canal near Dharmheri village on the Punjab-Haryana border, 45 km from Patiala, Sekhon said the capacity of the siphon built for the Ghaggar waters was not 1.66 lakh cusecs as claimed by the Haryana Government.

“It is not more than 20,000 cusecs”, he said while addressing mediapersons. As the minister was briefing the media, some officials of the Haryana Irrigation Department reached there. They were ghearoed by villagers.

Sekhon said: “The Hansi-Butana canal is across the Ghaggar and obstructs the natural flow of the water. My sole objective of visiting the site is to prove that the claims by the Punjab Government are correct and the Haryana Government is misquoting facts.”

Terming the construction of the canal as a blunder by Haryana, Sekhon said the canal was constructed in 2005-06, when the Congress was at the helm of affairs in both Punjab and Haryana. “The then Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh is solely responsible for the mess. His government did not approach the court for getting the work on the canal stopped.”

The minister said the Hansi-Butana canal was a hindrance to the natural flow of water and the back flow of the water resulted in the flooding of Punjab villages.

Dhuri, July 20
Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Capt Amarinder Singh today said that Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal’s statement blaming him for the Hansi-Butana canal was “absolutely wrong and betrayed his ignorance about the issue.”

He was here to meet party workers from Dhuri, Amargarh and Malerkotla. To a question as to why his government did not get a stay on the construction of the Hansi-Butana canal in 2005, the former Chief Minister said it was not required at that time as his government had already repealed the water-sharing agreements with other states, including Haryana.

He said the construction of the Hansi-Butana canal, already stayed by the SC, was part of a presidential reference pending in the Supreme Court.

The issue now, the PCC president said, concerned specifically to the construction of a concrete wall along the canal which would block the Ghaggar flood waters. Consequently, the water would be diverted towards Patiala, Sangrur and Mansa.

On the Sangat Darshan programmes of the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder remarked: “It is a primitive way of distributing funds. Even the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India had opposed the squandering away of money in this fashion.” Capt Amarinder was accompanied by MPs Vijay Inder Singla, Sukhdev Singh Libra, PCC general secretary Arvind Khanna and his two OSDs.

Chandigarh/Dubai, July 20
Seventeen Indian youths, 16 from Punjab and one from Haryana, facing death sentence for the murder of Pakistani boy Mishri Khan may be released soon. The Sharjah Appeal Court was informed today that the process for “Diya”, payment of blood money, had been initiated.

After Dubai-based Punjabi businessman SP Singh Oberoi produced a receipt of payment of the first installment of 1 million Pakistani rupees to Sarfraz Ahmed, brother of the victim, the court directed the defendants to complete the “Diya” proceedings before the next hearing on July 27.

The youths on death row are: Sukhjinder Singh of Patti, Sukhjot Singh of Sanghera, Ram Singh of Kanvi, Amritsar, Arvinder Singh of Ghokulwada, Gurdaspur, Baljeet Singh of Sangwal in Jalandhar, Daljeet Singh of Aitiana in Ludhiana, Dharampal Singh of Jhoke Tehal Singhwala in Ferozepur, Satgur Singh of Khanaur Jattan in Sangrur, Satnam Singh of Koolikalan in Ludhiana, Kashmir Singh of Rattu Ke in Taran Tarn, Suban Singh of Lohian Khas in Kapurthala, Kulwinder Singh of Bansipura in Ludhiana, Kuldeep Singh of Kukrana in Moga, Sukhinder Singh of Nikki Miani in Kapurthala, Namjyot Singh of Raikot in Ludhiana, Harjinder Singh of Phagwara and Taranjit Singh of Kaithal.

A battery of lawyers engaged bv the Indian Consulate-General in Dubai had filed an appeal against the death sentence awarded to them for killing Mishri Khan in a brawl in 2009. While the proceedings in the appeal case were in progress, the court asked the defendents if they were willing to go for settlement with the family of the victim.

While the defence team informed the court that it would seek directions from the Indian Consulate-General, the convicts opted for a “compromise”. All have been in jail for more than two years now.

At the last two hearings, the nominee of the victim’s family, Mohammed Ramzan, had told the court that none had approached him for a settlement. Today he told the court that a compromise had been reached for payment of eight crore Pakistani rupees to the family.

Oberoi told The Tribune on the telephone that frantic efforts were on since the past 10 days to convince the family of Mishri Khan to opt for a compromise. The payment of the first instalment of blood money was organised through Lahore-based Khalid Mohammed Khalid. The compromise was facilitated by PCC chief Capt Amarinder Singh and his associates Sukhwinder Singh Chhina and Gursharan Singh.

The full and final amount would be made in court on July 27 after which the death sentence would be waived.

“We are thankful to Capt Amarinder Singh. Last year he met the boys at the Sharjah Jail and promised to help them. He has kept his word. We are also thankful to Sukhwinder Singh Cheena and Gursharan Singh for their help,” Oberoi added.

Amritsar, July 20
Former Finance Minister Lal Singh said here today that the SAD-BJP government had raised the state debt by Rs 74,000 crore debt and it would be almost impossible for the next government to clear the enormous debt.

He said: “ The Congress government formed under Capt Amarinder Singh in 2002 inherited a loan of Rs 32,000 crore and this loan rose to Rs 48,000 crore in 2007.

At present the debt stands at an alarming Rs 78,000 crore.”

He hit out at the Badal Government for increasing the loan on state corporations from Rs 5000 crore in 2007 to Rs 44,000 crore now.

Lal Singh said his party would utilise rural fairs for mass contact.

He held meetings with workers and leaders from rural and urban segments of the DCC. He said workers from the Amritsar, Khadoor Sahib and Gurdaspur Lok Sabha constituencies would be mobilised to take part in the Rakhar Punia fair at Baba Bakala.

Similarly, workers and leaders from the Ludhiana, Fatehgarh Sahib and Ropar parliamentary constituencies would attend the Ishru Mela at Ludhiana on August 15.

Amritsar, July 20
The SAD and the BJP today came out with a new strategy to boost development works under which they divided the holy city into two zones and formed 16 sub-committees, headed by municipal councillors of the ruling alliance in the Municipal Corporation of Amritsar.

Addressing a joint press conference here today, MP Navjot Sidhu and Youth Akali Dal chief Bikram Singh Majithia said, “We have decided to give more responsibility to the councillors who will help the mayor and his team to implement development programmes in an effective manner.” They said they have divided the city into two parts and formed 16 sub-committees, each for the two zones.

While SAD councillors will head these sub-committees in one zone, the BJP councillors will head them in the other zone. They attributed the move to the increase in population of the city and the need to take the benefit of development to the micro-level.

The duo ruled out any possibility of differences cropping up among the allies. Their contention was that the city has been clearly demarcated into two parts and there is no scope of any confusion.

When asked about the timing of formation of these sub-committees, which was a few months ahead of Assembly polls, Sidhu said, “Better late than never”.

Jalandhar, July 20
For the past year, the Centre has been sitting over the proposal submitted to it for setting up the Borlaug Institute for South Asia ( BISA) at Laddowal farm, near Ludhiana.

“We have been eagerly waiting for the clearance of the proposal in this regard from the Centre”, said a senior functionary of the state government dealing with the issue. He said that some months ago, the file containing the proposal had reached the Union Cabinet Secretary, who had marked it to some secretary-level officers for examination. What happened to the proposal after that, was not clear yet, he said.

The issue was also taken up by the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal with Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh but things have not moved in the right direction yet.

To be set up in the memory of Dr Norman Borlaug, known as the ‘father of the green revolution,’ the institute is to be funded by the Mexico-based International Centre for Maize and Wheat Improvement, (CIMMYT) and has been proposed to give a push to the second green revolution in the country. Following a visit by the high-level team of the CIMMYT, headed by Dr Lumpkin and his deputy, Dr Ferguson, to the Laddowal farm in August last year, the Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Dr Lumpkin had signed a pact at the CIMMYT headquarters in Mexico on September 6 last year to set up the BISA in Punjab, with two subsidiaries in Madhya Pradesh and Bihar.

The Punjab government has offered 500 acres of land at the Laddowal farm for the BISA. The CIMMYT promised to make an initial investment of Rs 500 crore, besides taking care of the recurring expense of Rs 100 crore per annum to set up the institute. The institute would boost research for improving varieties of wheat and rice.

Borlaug, who popularised the high-yielding, disease-resistant dwarf Mexican wheat varieties in this part of the country in the 1960s, had worked closely with Dr D.S. Athwal, who was then in charge of the breeding programme in the Punjab Agricultural University( PAU). Owing to the efforts of Dr Borlaug, who passed away last year, the per acre wheat yield almost doubled in a few years in this part of the country. Later, the yield further improved and enabled Punjab to make a huge contribution of wheat to the central pool, making the country self-sufficient in this regard.

Chandigarh, July 20
Miffed at the non-responsive attitude of Punjab Government officials to court cases, state Advocate-General Baldev Singh has shot off a communication, with a set of instructions to the Chief Secretary.

He has warned that the Judges “may be constrained to require personal appearances of senior officers in the court”, if the “situation does not improve and the departments concerned do not properly assist the law officers”. Sources in the Punjab Government said Baldev Singh made it clear that since he took over as the Advocate-General on June 15, he had been “called by a number of Judges”.

They have conveyed “their displeasure on account of the fact that in many cases even after summons to the State of Punjab, no instructions are conveyed to the law officers before the date of hearing”

Elaborating, Baldev Singh has said this was because officials were not contacting the Advocate-General office in time. As a result, the law officer was not even aware of the summons.

“In such circumstances, not only is the law officer put to embarrassment, but it also sometimes results in adverse orders being passed against the state and even costs are imposed upon the state”.

The Advocate-General said the government had issued instructions to the departments concerned on the issue, “but it seems those instructions are not being complied with in letter and spirit”. Baldev Singh’s letter carries in it “consolidated and comprehensive requirements on filing of counter-affidavits and written statements”.

The letter says the sanction for defence of the case at state expense should be issued within a week of receiving the court summons and the counter-affidavit “must be of an officer not below the rank of Additional Secretary in the department concerned”.

Moreover, the “reply must contain complete details which are relevant for a decision in the matter” and must be filed at least a week before the date of hearing or within the time granted.

It adds a nodal officer must coordinate and file a comprehensive reply where more than one department is involved.

Bathinda, July 20
Seven units of two thermal plants, Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant (GNDTP) at Bathinda and Guru Hargobind Thermal Plant (GHTP) at Lehra Mohabbat, also in Bathinda district, today tripped, leading to disruption of power generation for about three hours from these units.

These units reportedly tripped due to a snag in the system voltage i.e. dip in the voltage in the northern grid. The fault in the power generation affected the supply to various parts of the state during these hours. However, the authorities of both thermal plants succeeded in synchronising all the seven units in three hours.

When the Chief Engineer of the GHTP, Lehra Mohabbat, MR Parhar was contacted over the phone this afternoon, he said the GHTP had two units of 210 MW each and two units of 250 MW each and due to a dip in the voltage from 220 KV to 98 KV in the grid, all four units of the plant tripped suddenly. This led to stoppage of power generation by the units. He said, however, they synchronised all the four units in about three hours and resumed power generation to normalise supply.

According to the spokesperson of GNDTP, Bathinda, units I, II and IV of the thermal plant tripped at about 10.12 am today due to a problem in the system voltage. The number III unit of the plant was under renovation at present. All these units were of 110 MW capacity each, he added.

Amritsar, July 20
As many as 3,500 Patwaris working under the Revenue Department decided to go on strike from today. The Revenue Patwar Union, Punjab president Nirmal Jit Singh Bajwa said that patwaris would hold protests outside district headquarters across the state on July 22. Upset at the indifferent attitude of the SAD-BJP government, patwaris had decided to launch the agitation. Their repeated representations and meetings with senior functionaries of the state government had failed to yield any results.

Bajwa said that the union held the last meeting with Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and Finance Commissioner, Revenue, in favour of its demands on March 14. He said Sukhbir had assured the delegation that their demands would be fulfilled.

The union demanded that patwaris should be given regular promotions. A patwari must be promoted to kanungo after 10 years, naib tehsildar after 20 years and tehsildar after 25 years.

Another demand is that allowances being extended to patwaris must be increased keeping in view the rising inflation. He said patwaris did not have any office and on top of that were offered a measly Rs 70 per month office allowance that must be raised to Rs 1,000.

Chandigarh, July 20
The Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee President Capt Amarinder Singh today condemned the brutal murder of a Jalandhar resident Naveen Randheev by four activists of the Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha and the RSS. He warned the police against hushing up of the matter and said those found shielding the guilty will be held accountable.

In a statement issued here today, Amarinder said that the four BJP-RSS activists had mercilessly beaten up the man to death and the police was trying to make it out as an accidental case. “Now the BJP is putting pressure on the police to protect the guilty,” he said, while asking police officials to perform their duties honestly and not succumb to any political pressure lest they have to pay for it themselves.

The PCC President said, there was total lawlessness in Punjab and this was the second murder in Jalandhar committed by the people belonging to the ruling alliance in less than three months. He pointed out, earlier the nephew of Adampur MLA murdered a youth Gurkirat Sekhon.

Chandigarh, July 20
The Punjab Government today notified the new package of concessions for integrated sugar complexes to be setup in the border regions of the state.

Disclosing this here today, Industry and Commerce Minister Tikshan Sud said the policy was aimed to give impetus to industrialisation of the border areas with special focus on sugar industry. He said as Punjab was the net importer of sugar with consumption exceeding demand, this policy was set to reverse the trend. — TNS

Patiala, July 20
With Amritsar topping the chart with maximum accident-prone range, a total of 1,645 persons lost their lives in Punjab in road accidents in the first six months of 2011. Meanwhile, the Punjab Police has also identified killer stretches in the state, where maximum accidents have taken place.

According to figures provided by the police department, out of total 3,042 road accidents that took place in Punjab from January 1, 2011, till June 30, in addition to 1,645 deaths, as many as 2,561 persons were injured. “Maximum accidents took place on the roads located in the Amritsar police Range,” claim official figures.

Topping the death chart, Patiala has reported 171 deaths in road accidents, followed by 132 in Ludhiana and 103 persons have died in Roopnagar in the same period.

Meanwhile, an official letter sent to all SSPs and Commissioners in the state by the ADGP Traffic, Punjab, states that maximum accidents took place due to over-speeding, drunken driving, over loading, wrong lane driving and wrong parking. “Majority of the accidents have taken place on the Amritsar-Jalandhar, Amritsar-Pathankot, Ropar-Anandpur Sahib, Balachaur-Garhshankar and Garhshankar- Dasuya where pilgrim-bound buses have met with accidents,” it reads.

The letter further poses a question mark on the working of various Municipal Corporations and councils which have failed to curb the menace of stray cattle, due to which maximum accidents were taking place. “Shortage of reflectors and reluctance on part of vehicles to use it has further increased road accidents,” its states.

Other districts that have reported accidental deaths include Ferozepur (71), Muktsar (39), Moga (44), Faridkot (17), Mansa (29), Bathinda (85), Sangrur (94), Barnala (10), Fatehgarh Sahib (62), Ludhiana (Rural) 71, Khanna (62), Jalandhar (30), Jalandhar (Rural) 69, Kapurthala (45), Hoshiarpur (86), Amritsar (35), Amritsar (Rural) 70, Gurdaspur 59, Taran Tarn (58), Batala (43), SBS Nagar (62) and SAS Nagar (103).

Senior officers confirmed that while educational drives have been initiated to educate masses about road safety, more efforts are being put to implement road safety norms and challan offenders on regular basis. “More patrolling and speed interceptor machines would be sent to the districts to check over-speeding and stringent checks would be imposed to check drunken driving,” they said.

Chandigarh, July 20
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today issued notice of motion to the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority on scheme (PUDA) for allotment of residential plots to its own staff at reserve prices.

The Division Bench of acting Chief Justice Adarsh Goel and Justice A.K. Mittal issued the notice to PUDA for November 3, on a petition challenging the decision dated September 24 last inviting applications from its officers and other employees for allotment of residential plots at Mohali at reserve prices. In his petition filed in public interest, advocate H.C. Arora alleged that PUDA was taking steps to allot residential plots at reserve prices from 5 to 14 marlas to its employees, depending upon their status, from Class-IV to Class-I.

He further alleged that even officers or employees with own residential plots or houses were eligible for allotment, if they have completed five years of regular service with PUDA, as per the scheme evolved by PUDA.

The petitioner also alleged that in 2001 also, PUDA had allotted residential plots to all its employees, who had completed five years of regular service as on August 31, 2001.

The petitioner contended before the Bench that PUDA, as a custodian of acquired land, could not be permitted to distribute acquired land among its own employees through an exclusive scheme, and that too at reserve prices for the purpose of profiteering and enrichment.

He stated that even in PUDA-approved colonies, members of economically weaker sections of society were allowed a concession of only up to 15 per cent of the rates at which dwelling houses were allotted to members of the general public.

Thus, allotment of residential plots to its employees by PUDA was to enable them to sell those plots at three to four times higher price and thus to get financial gains at the cost of tax-paying public.