Ludhiana, August 3
The Vice-Chancellor of the Punjab Agricultural University, Dr BS Dhillon, has requested deans, directors, faculty members, non-teaching employes and Class IV employees to contribute voluntarily from their salaries so that a separate fund can be created to help the university to cope with the financial crisis. This development is a consequence of the inability of the state government to render any financial help, since its own coffers are empty.

Confirming the development, Dr Dhillon said that it will be a Corpus Fund- "PAU Endowment Fund", but there was neither any compulsion

"Those who want to do something for the varsity, which gave them bread and butter throughout their lives, are welcome. But it is not mandatory. We are getting handsome salaries, if something can be done to save the university, I think it will be a good step. Besides, I have asked Class IV employees to just contribute Re 1, that will be enough. There needs to be a spirit to do something for the farm varsity,"said Dhillon.

The recent "request" by the VC has generated a mixed response from the faculty members as well as non-teaching employees. While certain faculty members readily agreed to pay "handsome amounts" from their pockets, the Punjab Agriculture University Teachers Association (PAUTA) reportedly told the authorities that their members will decide on the "proposal" after convening a General House meeting. The PAUTA members sat till late to decide on the proposal.

A faculty member, on the condition of anonymity, disclosed that the faculty was in a fix regarding the proposal.

"If we do not donate, we will be in the bad books of the Vice-Chancellor and those who will donate generously will be appreciated for their gesture. Those who want to be in good books of the Vice-Chancellor have even volunteered to donate more than Rs 1 lakh for the cause but we cannot do that, there are many limitations", said the faculty member.

Lakhwinder Singh Sandhu, a non-teaching employee said that employees wished to donate generously for the cause but they were not in a position to donate one month's salary. "It is good that there is no compusion but we will donate as per our pockets", he said.

Patiala, August 3
Already facing a lot of difficulties due to financial constraints, shortage of Class IV employees in government schools has further affected the smooth functioning of the schools.

Teachers rue that due to shortage of peons, security guards and gardeners, they are facing a lot of problems in managing the schools.

A senior functionary in the department said over 2,000 posts were vacant in high schools and senior secondary schools in the state. Besides, there were very few Class IV employees working in around 3,000 middle schools.

“Last time, the department had done direct recruitments for these posts in 1993 and since then, there had been no direct recruitment. After that, some posts were filled on compassionate grounds. Many Class IV employees have retired since then and these posts have also been lying vacant,” he added.

One of the principals of a senior secondary school said there was a shortage of Class IV employees in the school, due to which sometimes the students have to serve water to teachers.

“There are strict instructions that students should not be made to work in schools, but how are we suppose to manage without peons and gardeners. Earlier, we used to appoint security guards from the PTA funds, but now the PTA fund is so less that it is not possible to appoint them,” he added.

A peon of a local school said there was no security guard in the school and many posts of peon had been lying vacant. “I often do night shifts as there is no security guard to take care of computers and other material worth lakhs.

Patiala DEO (secondary) Parmod Kumar confirmed that many posts were lying vacant in Patiala. 

Chandigarh, August 3
The Punjab Pradesh Congress is gearing up to extensively use social network services in the forthcoming Assembly elections. For this purpose, it will launch its website “Chak-de-Punjab,” which would be its official, online mouthpiece .

Revealing this, Surinder Singla, chairman of the media committee set up by the Punjab Pradesh Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh, with the approval of the party high command, said: “We will put all important information with regard to the party’s policy and other decisions on our website on a day-to-day basis. It would be an interactive site and act as a forum for the party leaders to ask questions, seek clarifications and make comments.”

He said that Jassi Khangura, a computer-savvy MLA of the party from Kila Raipur, had been assigned the task of setting up the website. The party will also have a page on the Facebook of the same name. Khangura said that the website was under construction and it would be uploaded in about two weeks. “Social network service, especially the Facebook, has become a phenomenon among youth. The party will interact with youth through social networking,” he said. “The quickest mode to reach thousands people in one go is with the use of the Internet”, added Khangura.

The Congress is seriously thinking of using ‘Chak-de-Punjab’ as the main punch line of its election campaign in the Assembly elections. “This punch line would definitely click because it sends a multi-dimensional, positive message. The Congress could build its campaign around this punch line in the state”, said Khangura.

“Chak de,” an expression commonly used in Punjab, exemplifies the high-spirited temperament of Punjabis to do big things. Moreover, it has a highly optimistic as well as political overtone that gives a new hope to the people.

Gurdaspur, August 3
Former minister and Gurdaspur District Congress Committee (DCC) president Sukhjinder Randhawa has performed a delicate balancing act giving adequate representation to the Partap Bajwa and Ashwani Kumar groups in the 52-member Gurdsapur District Congress Committee. The list was announced today.

Partap Bajwa is the Gurdaspur MP. Union Minister Ashwani Kumar is also from the district and both are at loggerheads.

Randhawa managed to include loyalists of both the leaders in the committee.

Officer on special duty to the PPCC chief Major Amardeep Singh Manepur managed to include two of his blue-eyed boys in the list.

The list seems top heavy with 12 vice-presidents and 17 general secretaries. Nobody has been named treasurer. There are 10 executive members, 11 secretaries and two joint secretaries.

Prominent among the Bajwa supporters whose names find mention in the list are Pathankot MLA ticket aspirant Dinesh Mahajan and Anil Dara. Both have been named vice-president. Major Amardeep Manepur has managed the inclusion of Harjinder Singh as vice-president and Narinder Kaur as a general secretary.

According to an AICC ruling, there cannot be more than 31 members in any DCC. However, keeping in view the fact that the Gurdaspur parliamentary constituency is one of the largest with as many as 10 assembly segments, Randhawa said had to take special permission from the AICC high command and the PPCC chief to form the 52-member committee.

“I have taken care to adjust supporters of all senior Congress men of the Gurdaspur. The list has been finalised after deliberations with PCC chief Capt Amarinder Singh. Followers of Partap Bajwa and Ashwani Kumar have been given key posts. Other groups have also been given due recognition,” Randhawa remarked.

Chandigarh, August 3
On the complaint by the Congress on the possibility of misuse of seized liquor and drugs by the ruling SAD-BJP alliance to influence voters, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Kusumjit Sidhu has asked the Principal Secretary, Home, to submit a report on the matter.

Sukhpal Singh Khaira, Congress legislator from Bholath, had written to Sidhu on July 27 asking her to seek a status report on various drugs and liquor seized by the Punjab Police under the NDPS Act and the Punjab Excise Act across the state. He had said that the Congress feared that the drugs and liquor would be distributed among the voters to influence them.

The CEO wrote back to Khaira, saying that a copy of the complaint had been forwarded to the Home Department, asking that details of the confiscated drugs and liquor be furnished so that the Election Commission of India could be apprised of the situation. Khaira in his complaint has said: “Large quantities of various types of drugs such as poppy husk, opium, smack, cocaine, and illicit liquor are seized by the Punjab Police.

Chandigarh, August 3
Two former committee members of Punjab CPM and a former legislator rejoined the party at a function here today.

Announcing this, party head Charan Singh Virdi said the state committee members Chander Shekhar, Sher Singh Farbhai and former legislator Tarseh Jodha rejoined the CPM, along with former district committee members of Muktsar and Patiala, Inderjit Singh and Hari Singh Dhindsa. All the leaders who rejoined the party today said they had full confidence in the party organisation and would abide by the party programmes and current tactical line.

Virdi said the party would be further strengthened following the comeback of the leaders. — TNS

Mansa, August 3
The ongoing agitation by farmers in Gobindpura to save their agricultural land has taken a toll on the daily routine of the villagers. While school and college-going students of the area are complaining that they failed to reach their examination centres today, the farmers alleged they were not allowed to water their fields and chop green fodder for the cattle.

"There has been heavy deployment of the police force for the past two days at the entry point to the village but today morning the cops entered the streets and did not allow anyone to come out", said Sukhdeep Kaur, a resident of the village and a student of art and craft.

Sukhdeep was supposed to take her exam in the nearby Kullarian village but the cops refused to budge and did not allow her to go to the examination centre. She was among the students who were detained by the police today at the exit point of the village. Though the students showed letters from the school principal requesting the authorities to allow them to enter or exit the village, it was to no avail.

Students were not the only ones to bear the brunt of being under ‘house arrest’, the farmers too were hit. Ranvir, a farmer from Gobindpura, alleged that his cattle remained hungry today because the police did not allow him to go out and get fodder from the fields. Another resident, Moni, said the farmers were not allowed to water the fields either from the canal or tubewells.

"It was my uncles' turn to water the field from the canal today but he could not do so due to the heavy deployment of the police force," Moni said.

Villagers also alleged that they were not allowed to attend the cremation of the farmer at Barnala who was allegedly killed in yesterday's lathicharge neat Kot Dunna village. When Deputy Commissioner, Mansa, Ranvir Singh, was apprised of the villagers' problem, he said he went to the village yesterday but things seemed normal there.

Mansa SSP SS Parmar said he was not in a position to predict anything about the deployment of the police force in Gobindpura. Cops may have to stay there for a few more days, he said. Parmar, however, assured the villagers of relaxing conditions to allow them to roam around. "Stringent measures are taken only to keep miscreants away from the village and no villager would be harassed,” he said.

Chandigarh, August 3
Even as the government is reeling under the aftereffects of the Mansa land acquisition agitation, the Faridkot farmers, who gave their land to the state for establishment of Baba Farid Health University, are threatening to protest against the commercial sale of their land by the Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA).

The Punjab Government had purchased 158 acres of land from 122 farmers in Faridkot in 1998 for establishment of the Baba Farid University. The farmers were given a rate of Rs 4.5 lakh per acre for their land.

The government went on to use 72 acres of the land for construction of a jail and used the land on which the jail stood to establish the university. The remaining 86 acres of land is now being offered to the public for sale by the PUDA, which proposes to establish a residential colony of 561 plots on the land.

Farmer Amardeep Singh claims the government should use the land given by the farmers for the purpose for which it was purchased. “We specifically gave the land for establishment of the university,” he adds.

The government has gone ahead with making commercial use of the land on the premise that it was purchased and not acquired. Government sources said the land was never acquired and that it had been purchased at three times the prevailing market price at that time. However, Amardeep and other affected farmers, including Sukhchain Singh and Baljinder Singh, claim that the “purchase” only happened after the government brought into effect Section 4 announcing its intention to acquire the land.

The farmers said following this, the government got into negotiations with the farmers, who agreed to sell their land for establishment of the university.

The farmers claim, “While the land was purchased from them at Rs 100 per square yard, it was being offered for sale now at Rs 6,000 per square yard. By this account, an acre is now being sold to the public at around Rs 4 crore.”

The farmers have appealed to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to compensate them adequately for their loss, following which they have threatened to agitate against the ‘injustice’ being meted out to them.

The Punjab Govt purchased 158 acres of land from 122 farmers in Faridkot in 1998 for Baba Farid University

The farmers were paid Rs 4.5 lakh per acre for the land purchased

86 acres of land is now being offered to the public by PUDA for a residential colony

Farmers say land should be used for the purpose it was bought

Chandigarh, August 3
Reiterating his support for the agitating farmers in Mansa, PCC chief Capt Amarinder Singh today asked Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to give his own land for the power project. He said it was time that the government agreed to enhance compensation to the farmers.

Condemning the lathi charge on the farmers near Mansa,, he demanded that the officer responsible for using brute force be dismissed. 

Patiala, August 3
Health and Family Welfare Minister Satpal Gosain has constituted a high-powered committee to investigate the medicinal herb scam to the tune of Rs 2 crore.

The committee comprises Director, Health and Family Welfare Department, Dr JP Singh, Health Secretary Dr SK Sharma, Principal of Government Ayurvedic College, Patiala, Dr Pradeep Kapil and one official of the Assistant Controller, Finance.

Earlier, the Health Minister had constituted a four-member committee at the local level to investigate the case but the other staff members were not cooperating in the investigation due to which the investigation was getting delayed. This committee then requested for the formation of a high-powered committee.

Dr JP Singh and Patiala Civil Surgeon Dr Usha Bansal had also conducted a surprise checking at the pharmacy on July 27 and sealed five rooms filled with ayurvedic medicines. — TNS

Amritsar, August 3
With double-membership seats being rotated for the first time in the SGPC elections, the sitting women and SC members will have to either opt for a new constituency or stay out of the electoral arena.

If they decide to contest from a new constituency, they would face have to compete with local contenders with substantial support.

Kiranjot Kaur, the first woman general secretary of the SGPC in 2000, was elected to the SGPC House from Amritsar (Central), is now eyeing the Amritsar (West) seat which has been reserved for women.

SGPC member Sukhwinder Singh Jhabal, who was elected from Jhabal Kalan (SC) in Tarn Taran in 2004, is in a fix as none of the adjoining seats have been reserved for SC candidates. “The only option now is Khadoor Sahib, but that too falls in an altogether different pocket,” he lamented, describing the rotation system as “faulty”.

SAD secretary Daljeet Singh Cheema said: “We don’t havedearth of candidates. We are holding meetings daily and discussing new aspirants.” He said there were “competent” members open to shifting to a new seat who would be accommodated accordingly. The nominations for elections to the SGPC begin tomorrow.

Notice to State on Sehajdharis’ plea

Acting on an application seeking a stay on the SGPC elections, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today made it clear that the result would be subject to the outcome of the petition.

The Full Bench of Justice MM Kumar, Justice Alok Singh and Justice Gurdev Singh issued notices to the State of Punjab and other respondents for August 16, without staying the election process.The petition has been filed by the president of the Sehajdhari Sikh Federation, Dr Paramjeet Singh Ranu. — TNS

Constituencies reserved for SC men: Ambala, Malout, Ferozepur, Moga, Bhagta, Mansa, Longowal, Chananwala, Dakala, Bassi Pathana, Doraha, Mullanpur Dakha, Balachaur, Shahkot, Khadur Sahib, Verka, Jandiala, Batala, Sham Chaurasi, Anandpur Sahib

Reserved for SC women: Baluana, Dhuri, Jagraon, Patti and Dera Baba Nanak

For women(general category): Yamunanagar, Hisar, Gidderbaha, Abohar, Talwandi Bhai, Badhani Kalan, Ghal Kalan, Faridkot, Rampur Phul, Budhlada, Sunam, Dirba, Nabha, Sanaur, Ludhiana city (west), Samrala, Adampur, Kartarpur, Phagwara, Amritsar city (west), Chogawan, Guru Ka Bagh, Dhariwal, Garhshankar, and Mohali.

Patiala, August 3
The police has registered a case under Sections 452, 380, 353, 427, 186, 332 and 148 of the IPC against villagers for ransacking the power station at Shutrana on Monday.

The villagers had ransacked the station following erratic power supply for the past one week. They also staged a dharna and raised slogans against the power officials.

In a complaint to the police, the power officials said following a technical snag and complaints of regular power cuts, their staff tried to rectify the problem.

“However, residents from Rasauli and nearby villages gathered at the grid station and ransacked the office,” said the complaint.

“We will try to identify the accused and arrest them for destroying the government property and beating up government officers,” said the police. 

Bathinda/Mansa
Three days after the two male cops molested a woman colleague, the Mansa police booked the two offenders today.

ASI Jagdev Singh and head constable Gurmeet Singh have been booked under Sections 354, 24 of the IPC on the charge of molestation. However, the complainant, currently on duty at Gobindpura in Mansa district in view of the ongoing farmers’ agitation, alleged that action has come two days after the incident took place. She is actually posted at the canal police station in Bathinda. She said the two had been calling her up and harrassing her by passing indecent remarks. “Fed up with the calls, I told my women colleagues, who decided to teach him a lesson. We called him to a place and when he tried to misbehave, he was given a sound thrashing,” she said.

She said had the IG and the SSP Bathinda not intervened, the case would not have been registered. Meanwhile, the SSP Mansa, SS Parmar, said the case could not be registered earlier because the complainant had not mentioned olestation in her complaint.