|
|
|
|
|
Beas banks breached in Kapurthala
Fazilka villagers to be evacuated
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
No money to repair rural roads
Talks between Health Minister, NRHM staff break down
 Following the breakdown of talks with Punjab Health Minister Sat Pal Gosain yesterday, members of the National Rural Health Mission
(NRHM) Employees Association today said they would continue their stir till the government implemented its demands in letter and
spirit. The association leaders were invited by the government to Chandigarh yesterday for talks as the agitation by the NRHM employees since August 8 had been affecting the services in rural areas and the work in the offices at the block and district level.
Duronto to be flagged off on Aug
24
GNDU students working on proposal to build hotel at Majitha Fort site
 Students of the Architecture Department at Guru Nanak Dev University
(GNDU) here are preparing a design proposal for converting the site of Majitha Fort into a heritage hotel, which they would submit to the Union as well as the state government.
The fort was discovered by Rawal Singh Aulakh, Assistant Professor with Architecture Department of the
GNDU, and Rahanpuneet Singh, a conservation architect, in December last. The story was first reported by The Tribune in its December 9, 2010, issue.
Number of bogus travel agents mushrooming
365 establishments found violating pollution norms
Justice delayed: HC asks Chief Secy to hold probe
Baba Bhaniara to get a copy of his book
Harpreet murder case: Next hearing on Aug 27
Contractor arrested for opening fire
|
Beas banks breached in Kapurthala
Kapurthala, August 19 “We have sounded an alert in certain areas of Sultanpur and Bholath sub-divisions asking people of the villages located in low-lying areas to shift to safer places,” said Deputy Commissioner Harkesh Singh Sidhu. Asked about the damage to crops, Harkesh Singh said paddy and other crops had almost been wiped out in 32 villages. “Crops have been submerged as extra water has been released from the Pong dam, which is filled almost to the brim. There is a possibility of further increase in the level of water in the Beas,” he said. However, no loss to life has been reported due to the floods so far. “Teams of senior officials, including doctors and veterinary officials, have been constituted to visit the flood-affected areas…. Religious places have been requested to run community kitchens at some of the places,” he said, adding most affected are 22 villages in Mand area of Sultanpur sub-division, including Kishanpur Durga, Mand Karmuwal, Mand Hazara, Jammewal, Mand Kirian, Mand Fatehpur, Sitapur and Bishanputa. However, Harkesh Singh said the water level in the Sutlej, which flowed a few miles away from the Beas, had started decreasing. Gurbaxpuri adds from Tarn Taran: The release of water from Pong dam late Friday night has affected the crop in over 30 villages in Mand area of the district. Deputy Commissioner Satwant Singh Johal said an alert had been sounded in areas near the Beas and people advised to move to safer places. About 65,000 cusecs of water has been released into the Beas, which has left crop on more than 9,500 acres in Khadur Sahib subdivision inundated. The normal inflow is 20,000 to 22,000 cusecs. Some of the affected villages are Jalalabad, Kiri Shahi, Dhunda, Guharpura,Bhalojla, Verowal, Rampur Bhutwind, Gharka, Mundapind and Karmuwala. Besides, 1,350 acres of land in Kambo Dhain Wala, Dhun Dhai Wala and Chamba Kalan villages too has been submerged.
|
|
Fazilka villagers to be evacuated
Fazilka, August 19 Deputy Commissioner Basant Garg said the water level was expected to further rise as 1 lakh cusecs had been released from the Pong dam, which could inundate the village in two
days. With many of its areas already inundated, the village looked like an island. Garg said the residents were reluctant to leave their homes. He said the village, with a population of 600, consisted of 150
households. It was most vulnerable to floods. Residents of the village demanded that the government should rush fodder for their cattle as the fields were
inundated. According to sources, water is also being released from the Hussainiwala headworks. "We cannot leave our cattle to perish," said Makhan
Singh. The Budha rivulet flowing on the Pakistani side along the village is also in spate and poses a threat to the
area. Additional DC Charandev Singh Mann said all basic amenities would be provided to the evacuated families. A medical team from the primary health centre of Dabwala Kalan village had been put on
alert. Sarpanch Kulwant Singh said the villagers had been told about the evacuation orders on the public address system. The border fencing and the gates manned by the BSF already lie submerged in the river water.
|
||
|
Cong to launch morcha against Mansa acquisition
Chandigarh, August 19 Pradesh Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh will lead the agitation, which will be started at Baretta mandi from where Congress activists will march to Gobindpura. The PPCC president said here today that party workers would defy prohibitory orders and continue to court arrest till the land acquisition process was scrapped. He said everyday one District Congress Committee would take the responsibility of leading the
agitation. Till now, it is the Akalis that have been known for their morchas, including the Jaito and Kapoori morchas, which were organised to force the British to restore the throne of Maharaja Ripudaman Singh of Nabha and ensure that the Punjab waters did not flow into the Sutluj Yamuna Link (SYL) canal.
The Akalis had used the same tactics as proposed by Amarinder when the then SAD president Parkash Singh Badal and MP Sukhbir Badal were lodged in the Patiala jail in December
2003. The PPCC chief announced that in case the Congress formed the next government in Punjab, it would quash the present land acquisition policy. He said the government should only act as a facilitator and not acquire land at the collector’s rates that were always lower than the market price.
He suggested the government should follow the Haryana land acquisition pattern, taking into consideration the long-term interests of
farmers. Amarinder criticised the MOU (memorandum of understanding) route being taken to establish thermal projects in Punjab. He said the Gobindpura project too was based on an MOU rather than competitive
bidding. Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal said the Congress movement against forcible acquisition in Mansa would sound the death knell of the SAD-BJP rule. Also present at ther meeting were Lal Singh, Rana KP, Kewal Dhillon, Ashwani Sekhri, Arvind Khanna, G Jawanda and Fatehjang
Bajwa.
|
||
|
Announce your seats, Manpreet dares CM, Sukhbir
Chandigarh, August 19 Addressing mediapersons here, Manpreet claimed the Deputy CM had visited Gidderbaha yesterday, 10 months after the formation of the PPP, because the SAD’s candidate was in a weak position from the seat.
Decrying assertions that he was on a weak wicket after a spate of desertions from his party, he said it was the SAD that was failing to get grassroots support and was not holding any public rallies because of this reason. Manpreet also claimed that allegations of nepotism levelled against him were baseless as he was yet to announce his party’s structure. He alleged, the SAD believed in nepotism as first-time legislators like Bikram Majithia and Adesh Pratap Singh Kairon were made ministers whereas he was made one only after he had won his fourth election.
The PPP chief said pressure was being put on more of his followers, including former Faridkot MLA Kushaldeep Dhillon, with a case being registered against the latter’s mother. Kushaldeep, however, chose not to speak about the case or claims of pressure being put on him at all.
|
||
|
No money to repair rural roads
Chandigarh, August 19 The proposal has been cleared by the Chief Minister. The Punjab Mandi Board is responsible for the upkeep of rural link roads and re-carpets them every six years. Most rural and link roads have to be repaired by October this year. Since the Punjab Mandi Board has no money, the market committees have been asked to take loan, based on their re-paying
capacity. Out of 146 market committees in the state, 135 will be taking loan for a period of five years, based on their annual revenue generation. The remaining 11 are in dire straits and unable to procure bank loan. The Finance Department has already given a financial guarantee to the Oriental bank of Commerce that will charge a 10.5 per cent annual interest on the loan amount.
Punjab has a total of 54,029 km of rural link roads. But all the market committees put together have an annual budget of on Rs 201 core for all developmental works. Therefore, each market committee has to decide on the work to be taken up on priority with the limited
resources. Many market committees that had secured a loan during the previous SAD-BJP Government in 1999 are still paying back the same and hardly have any money for development work. The Punjab Mandi Board earned a revenue of Rs 568 crore during the last fiscal from market fee and an equal amount (Rs 568 crore) from the Rural Development Fund. Since, the fund is utilised at the discretion of the Chief Minister, the board is left with the revenue generated from the market fee for most developmental works.
During the Congress regime, the government had asked the Punjab Mandi Board to take a loan on its own and pay it back. The burden was not passed on to the market committees.
But under the SAD-BJP regime, most market committees would come under the burden of debt. Chairman of the Punjab Mandi Board Ajmer Singh Lakhowal said the board was faced with acute shortage of funds because most market committees were still paying back the loan and interest on earlier borrowings .
|
|
Talks between Health Minister, NRHM staff break down
Bathinda, August
19 The association leaders were invited by the government to Chandigarh yesterday for talks as the agitation by the NRHM employees since August 8 had been affecting the services in rural areas and the work in the offices at the block and district level. The NRHM employees are on warpath due to the non-acceptance of their demands, which include regularisation of services, formulation of service rules and grant of pay scales as recommended by the Fifth Pay Commission. At yesterday’s meeting, the NRHM Employees Association was headed by its state president Inderjit Singh
Rana. Rana said the talks remained unsuccessful due to the “indifferent attitude” of the state government. He said the government had now been dilly-dallying on the pretext of the model code of conduct in view of the SGPC elections.
|
||
|
Duronto to be flagged off on Aug
24
Ferozepur, August 19 The non-stop train would leave Amritsar at 5.25 am and reach Chandigarh in 4.30 hours via the Jalandhar-Ludhiana-New Morinda route.
Brijesh Dharmani, Senior Divisional Operations Manager, said the train would not run on Friday and Sunday. It would return to Amritsar in the afternoon. The train was introduced in the Railway Budget last year. The BJP MP, Navjot Singh Sidhu, had been pressing the Railways to introduce the train at the earliest.
|
||
|
GNDU students working on proposal to build hotel at Majitha Fort site
Amritsar, August
19 The fort was discovered by Rawal Singh Aulakh, Assistant Professor with Architecture Department of the GNDU, and Rahanpuneet Singh, a conservation architect, in December last. The story was first reported by The Tribune in its December 9, 2010, issue.
Rawal said, “Our students will prepare a broad design work for conversion of the site into a heritage hotel comprising 50 deluxe rooms and 50 super deluxe rooms on the lines of the City Palace in Udaipur. The design proposal will then be submitted to the Centre and the Punjab government with a broad estimate.”
According to him, they will retain the historic features of the fort in the new design, which will be made on the lines of the Gobindgarh Fort as both the forts date back to the same era. He, however, clarified that the ground studies will have to be done if their proposal was to be given a final shape. “We will only be presenting a tentative picture as to how major design work of the fort would have been. The exact structure of the fort could only be known after archaeological intervention.”
Rawal said though they would submit the proposal in the next one-and-a-half month, it is for the government to decide what it wants to do with it. He said they are open to facilitate consultancy to the government if the latter decides to go ahead with a project on the site. He felt that the site has great potential for heritage hotel or alike use.
Rawal and Rachanpuneet had earlier submitted a report to the ASI in connection with the discovery of the fort. SAD MP SS Dhindsa had recently raised a question in this regard in the Rajya Sabha, replying to which Union Culture Minister Kumari Selja admitted that the ASI has received the report on the discovery of the Majitha Fort.
|
||
|
Number of bogus travel agents mushrooming
Patiala, August 19 More than 300 such agents have already been booked in the past over a year for fraud in parts of Punjab, but the easy money that these agents make is driving more such agents to open shutters in all corners. “There is hardly a day when a travel agent is not booked in Punjab for cheating his client on the pretext of sending them abroad. With hardly any kind of licence required, these agents shift base from one city to another once booked by us,” said a senior police
officer. A visit to few travel agents by The Tribune team revealed how such agents have opened offices in Patiala and adjoining areas. It was revealed that they initially ask for a token money ranging between Rs 10,000 and Rs 25,000 depending upon the country selected. “If you do not have valid documents, they promise to arrange the documents that cost another Rs 80,000 to Rs 1 lakh,” echoed majority of them while talking to this correspondent, who posed as a youth interested in settling abroad. Patiala has around 100 such
agents. A few days ago, The Tribune had highlighted how the External Affairs Ministry noted that in recent months, some Punjab-based travel agents had encouraged young boys to go to Iraq, promising them jobs in the army camps there. Instead, the unsuspecting youths were sent to a construction company in Najaf and subjected to long working hours and paid poor
salaries. Almost over a year ago, the state government had formed a task force under an IG-level officer to check bogus travel agents, but not much was achieved. “Numerous embassies have already brought the matter of Punjab youth reaching abroad illegally, courtesy these agents who can arrange from passport to bank statement,” said another senior IPS
officer. Patiala IG Paramjit Singh Gill told TNS that he had issued a circular to SSPs to ensure that in cases of travel agents duping anyone the recovery of amount cheated should be a priority. “In maximum cases, it is seen that lower-rung officers register an FIR and the accused agent gets bail, but now we would press for recovery from the agent to curb this menace,” Gill said.
|
||
|
365 establishments found violating pollution norms
Patiala, August 19 During the raids conducted during the past five days, as many as 365 establishments were found violating various provisions of the Plastic Waste (Management and Handling) Rules-2011. The Board officials have confiscated 1,305 kg of plastic carry bags during the
raids. Giving this information, Board chairman K.S.Pannu said to undertake the raids at such a large scale, the entire state was divided into seven zones headed by Senior Environmental Engineers, who supervised the teams comprising one officer of the Board and two officials of the respective urban local body of the city/town, where raid was being
conducted. Pannu further said as per provisions of the Plastic Waste (Management and Handling) Rules-2011, nobody is supposed to manufacture, stock, distribute or sell any carry bag made of recycled or compostable plastic, which is less than 40 microns in thickness. “Each plastic carry bag and multi-layered packing should have printed in English or in local language the name, registration number of the manufacturer and thickness”, he
added. He further said plastic bags were was adversely affecting the environment of the state by chocking the sewer system, blocking the natural flow of water in the drains and rivers, spoiling the water quality of lakes in general and human health in particular.
|
|
Justice delayed: HC asks Chief Secy to hold probe
Chandigarh, August
19 In a stern order, Justice LN Mittal asserted: “The Chief Secretary, Punjab, shall initiate an inquiry to fix responsibility of the officers concerned, particularly the district magistrates, the senior superintendents of police and the superintendents of the jails concerned, who remained posted from time to time and caused delay in the case of the petitioner, and take action against them in accordance with
law”. Justice Mittal asserted: “The case of petitioner Kailash Kaur presents disturbing state of affairs. As per the reply, premature release case of the petitioner was initiated on June 14, 2007. But has not been finalised in spite of a lapse of more than four years. This is not the only disturbing feature of the case. “The criminal appeal filed by the petitioner was dismissed by this court on January 6, 2005. In spite of that, the respondents wanted her, vide observation dated May 15, 2009, to file an affidavit that she would withdraw the appeal/court case before receiving the order of her premature release. The appeal already stood decided more than four years prior to
it”. Justice Mittal added the case remained pending for a long period for the want of reports of the district magistrates and the senior superintendent of
police. “Vide order dated July 28, the respondents were required to decided the case of the petitioner expeditiously for premature release in accordance with law. It was expected that the respondents would do the needful as per the direction in letter and spirit”.
|
|
|
Baba Bhaniara to get a copy of his book
Chandigarh, August 19 The Baba, on the previous date of hearing, had filed an application for a copy of book. The three-Judge Bench of Justice MM Kumar, Justice MMS Bedi and Justice Jitendra Chauhan did not agree and made it clear that a copy each should be given to the Bench and the petitioner.
— TNS
|
|
|
Harpreet murder case: Next hearing on Aug 27
Patiala, August 19
|
|
Contractor arrested for opening fire
Bathinda, August 19 The contractor, Amarjeet Singh Happy, had opened fire without any provocation. He is said to be a well-connected person. After firing the shots, Happy allegedly thrashed a photojournalist in the presence of two senior police officials and escaped.
After a strong protest by local mediapersons, the police booked the contractor under various Sections of the IPC and the Arms Act. The police also questioned a relative of the contractor but he was reportedly released on the intervention of a local SAD leader. SSP Gill said Happy would be produced before a magistrate tomorrow.
— TNS
|
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | E-mail | |
Kapurthala, August 19
Fazilka, August 19
