Batala, July 31
A retired Assistant Food and Supplies Officer (AFSO), Batala, has been named as an accused in an FIR in a case of bungling of subsidised kerosene.Talking to mediapersons here on Sunday, SSP Gurkirat Pal Singh said retired AFSO Barinder Raj Singh has been booked under Sections 409 and 408 of the IPC in a case registered today at city police station, Batala.

The case was registered on the complaint of Sukhdev Singh, District Food and Supplies Controller (DFSC), Gurdaspur, after obtaining the opinion of the District Attorney, Gurdaspur.

The allegations levelled in the FIR said Barinder Singh during his tenure as AFSO, in a criminal conspiracy with dealers and depot holders, issued permits to them and embezzled a huge quantity of kerosene, meant for BPL families.

The inquiry conducted by the DFSC revealed that lakhs of litres of kerosene meant for BPL families was surreptitiously sold in the black market causing a huge loss to the government.

Barinder Singh was posted as AFSO in Batala for about two years.

When asked why Section 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 120-B of the IPC have not been slapped against the retired AFSO, the SSP said these sections would be added later on during the course of investigation in the case.

Strangely, no depot holder or dealer has been named as co-accused in the case.

So far, nobody has been arrested in the case.

Amritsar, July 31
Various organisations under the banner of Kale Kanoona Virodhi Sanjha Manch today gave a clarion call to the people to participate in the agitation against the Punjab Prevention of Damage to Public and Private Property Bill - 2010 and Punjab Special Security Group Bill - 2010 proposed by the state government.

The manch, comprising Kirti Kisan Union, Democratic Teachers Front, Pendu Mazdoor Union, Democratic Employees Front, Punjab Students Union and ETT Teachers Union, organised a convention to gather support of the public. The dharna would be held on September 28 on the birth anniversary of great martyr Udham Singh in Chandigarh.

Speakers, addressing the convention, criticised the SAD-BJP government and termed these ‘black laws’ against the interest of common man who want to raise their voices against the government for its various anti-people policies. They pointed out that Prevention of Damage to Public and Private Property Bill - 2010 was a direct violation of the Constitution.

Amritsar, July 31
The Amritsar Improvement Trust (AIT) has written to the Department of Cultural Affairs, Archaeology and Museums, Punjab, to convince the Archaeology Survey of India (ASI) to lift the objection raised over the construction of a flyover on busy Four S Chowk.

AIT chairman Sanjiv Khanna said the communication had been dispatched to department director Hussan Lal for further taking up the matter with the ASI at Delhi office.

The trust recently received a communication from the ASI that directed the trust to withhold all works and activities for raising a flyover on the chowk as it violated the norm of allowing construction activities beyond 500 square yard area of the protected monuments.

The chowk is located next to historic Ram Bagh that houses the Summer Palace of legendary Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The state government had notified the place as protected site on October 8, 1997.

The ASI, which is looking after the maintenance of Ram Bagh, even earlier had objected to the construction of high-rise buildings in the proximity of the historic garden.

Khanna said the place for raising the flyover was about 300 meters away from protected monuments.

He reasoned that the boundary wall was not a part of the protected site and the distance must be counted from the protected buildings.

He said the flyover would help decongest the roads around Ram Bagh. “Once constructed, it benefit tourists,” he added.

Four S Chowk flyover was among the seven infrastructural projects of the city undertaken by the AIT to decongest various areas. This flyover was estimated to cost over Rs 30 crore.

Protected Monuments

Maharaja Ranjit Singh got constructed Ram Bagh on the pattern of Lahore’s Shalimar Bagh. Protected monuments in Ram Bagh included the Summer Palace of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, a bathing tank, reading room, four watch towers, and Baran Dari.

Jalandhar, July 31
After filing a PIL in Punjab and Haryana High Court against the permanent closure of the Mall Road, the residents of cantonment and adjoining villages have sent their objections in writing to station commander, Jalandhar Cantonment.

The Mall Road stands closed for the civilians from August 1. The hearing of the PIL is likely to begin within two days.

The Army had invited suggestions and objections from residents before the final closure of the road.

A public notice issued by army authorities on July 14 stated that owing to key military installations and security concerns the traffic on Mall Road needs to be regulated.

In their objections, the residents said the jurisdiction of closing and opening of a public road lies with the Jalandhar Cantonment Board instead of the Army authorities.

Shiv Kanwar Singh Sandhu, a Congress aspirant from Cantonment Assembly seat along with the members of Citizens Welfare Protection Council, filed the objections on Friday.

Sandhu said, “No Army authority can close a public road where Cantonment Board Act is applicable. The Army is allowed to take such an initiative only in areas which are under complete jurisdiction of the Army ie where the cantonment boards do not exist”.

He added that this was a matter of jurisdiction of the Jalandhar Cantonment Board which is functioning under the Cantonment Board Act, 2006.

“We have also written to the chief executive officer of Jalandhar Cantonment Board, Vibha Sharma, in this regard,” he added.

Nawanshahr, July 31
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, while disposing of three separate complaints --- filed by Ranbir Singh and Shanti Devi of Naura village and Lt Col Ramesh Kumar Mehta of Mahil Gehilan village --- directed Nano Product Group of Tata Motors Limited to pay their due interest amounting to Rs 18,839, Rs 10,823 and Rs 12,214, respectively, along with compensation of Rs 5,000 each for causing harassment.

While Ranbir Singh and Shanti Devi had deposited Rs 95,000 each, Lt Col Ramesh Kumar Mehta deposited Rs 1.2 lakh as application money for booking a Tata Nano. Later, keeping in view the defects in the car, they decided to withdraw their applications. They submitted applications for a refund along with the due interest. 

Lodging arrangements for the participating teams had been made at different schools in the town under the supervision of a committee headed by Dinesh Kumar, Principal of Government Senior Secondary School. — OC

Jalandhar, July 31
Members of the Punjab Bank Employees Federation have decided to hold mass rallies and processions in all cities across the state from August 2 against privatisation of public sector banks and in support of other long-pending demands.

All branches of the public sector banks in the state would hold demonstrations on August 4. This would be followed by a token strike, demonstrations and mass rallies during the all-India bank strike on August 5.

Highlighting the demands of the federation, general secretary of the federation NK Gaur said the public sector banks should not be privatised and government equity capital in these banks should not be diluted.

He also pointed out that if financial inclusion was the priority of the government, then it should focus on bank expansion and not merger of banks. “Various bank unions are opposed to outsourcing of permanent banking jobs and banking services. Moreover, there is a dire need to curb issuance of licences to industrial houses, which wish to start their own banks,” he added.

The federation also highlighted the lack of adequate staff in banks. “We also demand scrapping of the Khandelwal Committee recommendations, which are anti-employees,” he said.

The federation members also demanded improvement in the pension scheme in the banking sector on the lines of the Central Government schemes.