Abohar, July 27
Will CM Parkash Singh Badal now keep his word to grace the function slated for Sunday as the chief guest? The million dollar question is doing the rounds following the cabinet decision to ignore the claim of Abohar by upgrading Fazilka as district.

The CM had agreed to attend the Teej Mela being held by the Punjab State Social Welfare Board at a banquet hall near village Khuyiansarwar on the Abohar-Sriganganagar road.

The Board chairperson and former state BJP Mahila Morcha chairperson Vijay Laxmi Bhadoo yesterday said she would urge the CM that Abohar deserved to be a district and Fazilka was no match to this town in terms of infrastructure. An eerie silence prevailed here as the TV channels broke the news that the Punjab cabinet had approved the proposal to upgrade Fazilka as district.

Former Bar Association president Sukhpal Singh Sidhu, who had led the campaign in favour of district status for Abohar rued that none of the political parties extended active support to the cause.

Consumer Movement chairman and RTI Association district president Satpal Khariwal said, “We wanted to get rid of the distantly located Ferozepur. This has been done, so no logic stands in opposing the state government’s decision.”

The resentment that grips the sub-divisional town over denying the district status may not create a pleasant environment for the CM, if he visits Khuyiansarwar on Sunday, a cross-section of residents feel.

Mansa, July 27
Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, leader of the Congress Legislature Party, today accused the ruling SAD-BJP coalition government of forcibly acquiring the agricultural land of farmers at a meagre price for setting up thermal power projects by big industrial houses. She warned that the Congress would review such actions if it came to power following the ensuing Assembly elections.

Bhattal was talking to mediapersons after inaugurating a cancer detection camp at Bhikhi near here.

She alleged that the government headed by Parkash Singh Badal was paying a pittance as compensation for the highly fertile lands that were being acquired for setting up thermal projects. The Badal Government had earlier been claiming that it would not acquire even a single inch of land for this purpose without the willingness of the farmers, but was practising just the opposite by evicting poor farmers using the police force and handing over their fertile lands to industrial houses.

Bhattal said during the earlier Congress regime, she had scrapped a proposal of setting up a thermal power project at Lehra Gagga in Sangrur because the farmers were unwilling to dispose of their lands for this purpose.

She said during the past four and a half years, the SAD-BJP government had failed to fulfill its promise of uninterrupted power supply in the state as the electricity generation figures had remained static. She accused the state government of diverting the funds received from the Central government to further its own political agenda.

Bhattal urged politicians to sink their differences and unitedly strive for eradicating the disease that has spread in the Malwa region. The state government machinery failed to present correct figures regarding cancer patients to a central team that was sent here by Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, she added.

Bathinda, July 27
In protest against the removal of two members of the security staff of the local Giani Zail Singh College of Engineering and Technology (GZSCET) by the contractor and in favour of their reinstatement, some workers and their supporters belonging to the Lok Janshakti Mazdoor Sabha kept both the gates of the college closed for about one and a half hours this afternoon.

As a result, college staff remained confined to the campus even after 5 pm.

State president of the Lok Janshakti Party Kiranjit Singh Gehri said the protesters had been forced to close the gates of the college as the sacked workers had not been taken back on duty by the contractor even as workers had been staging a dharna at the main gate of the college for the past one month. He said they opened the gates at about 5.30 pm after speaking to the SHO concerned.

He said later, a meeting was held with the college principal who spoke to the contractor over the phone. The college principal told them that the contractor would come to the college tomorrow for holding talks over the issue at 11 am.

The college principal, SC Sharma, said the college had no role to play in the removal or reinstatement of the security staff as the sacked workers were employees of the contractor. He said since the contractor had provided new security guards in place of the sacked persons, there was no threat to the security of the college.

Gehri said they had also told the principal that if the matter was not resolved at the meeting tomorrow, they would be compelled to close both the gates of the college for an indefinite period, for which the entire responsibility would lie with the college authorities and the administration.

Bathinda, July 27
Disappointment prevails among over 33,000 Nambardars of the state as the government has not enhanced their monthly honorarium to Rs 1,000 per month from Rs 5,00 per month in the light of their long standing demand so far.

General secretary of the Punjab Nambardara Union Mohinder Singh Jahangir today said Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had recently promised them to raise their monthly honorarium from Rs 500 to Rs 1,000, but a notification in this regard had not been issued so far for the reasons best known to the CM and the bureaucracy.

Jahangir said in the light of non-issuance of the notification, the state body of the union had been compelled to chalk out a state-level agitation programme for getting the notification issued soon. He said as per the agitation programme, district-level rallies and demonstrations through out the state would be held from August 5 to September 9 (see table).

He said after the rally and demonstration, the union would hand over a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner in every district to forward the same to the CM.

In case, the government did not issue the notification by September 9, the union would organise a massive demonstration on September 12 on the Mohali-Chandigarh barrier to compel the government to accept their demand and fulfill the promise made by the CM. However, if the state government issued the notification before September 12, the union would organise a thanks giving function, he added.

Bathinda, July 27
Member of Parliament Harsimrat Kaur Badal today termed the Right to Service Act as a revolutionary step taken by the SAD-BJP government in the larger interest of the masses.

She said such an Act was the need of the hour to provide relief to the people as earlier, many people had been facing problems in getting their work done in the government offices on time.

Harsimrat further said the Act would also be helpful in making the administrative system and machinery active. She said that in a short period, the people would see its results as there would be a great change in the attitude of the officials at the administrative level. People would also not suffer in getting their works done at any level due to the stipulated period provision in the Act, she added.

Harsimrat said this while addressing ‘Sangat Darshan’ programmes at various villages, including Kanakwal, Malkana, Jogewala, Nangla and Mirjeana of the Talwandi Sabo Assembly constituency. During these programmes, she also distributed development grants of Rs 90 lakh.

She flayed the Congress saying that it has no issue for the ensuing Assembly elections due to which it has been issuing “wrong” statements with regard to the development works being done by the state government.

However, the MP said that the SAD-BJP alliance would seek votes from the people on the issue of development in the state.

She also distributed saplings among the people and appealed them to plant at least one tree to save the planet for future generations besides checking pollution.

Ferozepur, July 27
Already reeling under the lack of infrastructural growth and poor economic development, the traders in the cantonment area are a harassed lot as they still need to pay a huge amount as octroi while it has been abolished in the rest of the state.

Notably, the octroi was abolished all over the state a long time back. However, being part of the cantonment area which does not fall under the direct administrative control of the state government, the traders still have to pay octroi. The traders are losing customers everyday as they prefer to buy commodities from the city where octroi is not imposed. The traders said when the SAD-BJP came to power this time, they were promised that octroi would be abolished in the cantonment area soon. But even after four years, the issue has been kept in abeyance.

Nand Kishore Gugan, president, Beopar Mandal and Commission Agents Association said the small traders were the worst hit as they even cannot afford to have godowns out of the cantonment jurisdiction. He added that most of the wholesale agents and shopkeepers have shifted their base outside the cantonment limits due to the octroi problem. A local businessman Sanjay Gupta said it was not just the civilians who go to the city for shopping but also the army personnel who comprise a large chunk of the clientele for the shopkeepers in the cantonment. They too have started going to other parts of the town for their needs.

Amit Kumar, CEO, Cantonment Board Ferozepur (CBF), said a proposal was made for an amendment in the bylaws to enter into an agreement with the state government, that had agreed to compensate the Board on account of revenue loss, if octroi is abolished. “At present, we are collecting around Rs 2.70 crores per annum as octroi,” said Kumar, adding that the state government has to compensate for this amount which would be enhanced at the rate of nine per cent every year.

“The proposal is still pending with the Ministry of Defence. Once it is cleared, we would be able do away with octroi in the cantonment,” he pointed out. The traders also resented that they are not allowed to repair or reconstruct their shops and commercial units due to stringent cantonment laws which also affect their business.

Moga, July 27
The problems do not seem to be ending for Paramdeep Singh Gill, DGP of Punjab and DS Guru, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, who reportedly want to contest the coming assembly elections on a SAD ticket.

After the advisory of the Chief Electoral Officer Kusumjit Sidhu asking the district magistrates of Moga and Barnala to keep a vigil on the ‘political activities’ of the two bureaucrats, the leaders of the Congress have also started raising their voice to remove these officials from their posts for violating the service rules.

The member of the state working committee of the Congress and former MLA Vijay Sathi has demanded the Election Commission to announce the state assembly elections as soon as possible so that the officials could be removed from their posts.

He demanded that the district magistrates there should be asked to prepare videos of both Gill and Guru during their visits to their home districts, which should be watched minutely by the Election Commission. “The Election Commission needs to curb the money being disbursed to the panchayats and sops being announced by the CM and his son during the sangat darshans to influence the voters,” he said.

Sathi, who is considered close to the senior party leader Jagmeet Singh Brar, a member of the Central Working Committee of the party, said a delegation of the party leadership would soon meet the Chief Election Commissioner to apprise him of the prevailing political situation and ‘political’ activities of Gill and Guru in their districts.

He said in view of the past experiences, the state elections should be conducted in three phases and the law and order situation should be put under the control of the Central Para-military Forces.

“I fear that the ruling SAD-BJP leadership may indulge in violence to create terror among the public to vote in their favour,” he added.

Vijay Sathi, while criticising the deployment of PPS officers as SSPs and promoted PCS officers as district magistrates in the state, said the Union Home Ministry should intervene in the matter as it is a violation of the directives of the Central Government.

Meanwhile, he has written a letter to the Governor of Punjab to send a detailed report of the activities of the state government to the Union Government demanding to dissolve the state assembly for conducting free and fair polls in the state.

Abohar, July 27
Neha, a student of BA (II) year of Gopi Chand Arya Mahila College here, has been selected for the advanced course in mountaineering as she scaled 16,000 feet during a camp held by the Manali-based AB Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports.

Principal Dr Neelam Arun Mittu informed that the college team led by Neha won in the hurdle race and tug-of-war competitions besides clinching the runners-up position in snow craft, ice craft and brush craft. She happens to be the only cadet selected for mountaineering by the Fifth Punjab Girls Battalion of the NCC. — OC