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Don't encourage defectors: CM to Left
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Badal tries to ‘woo’ Talwandi
News
Analysis
New education policy draft ready
Saanjh Kendra: State takes lead in implementing community policing
Rift in SAD, BJP over Aggarwal’s appointment as AG
Deputy CM all praise for Anna
33 panchayat secys, 3 others suspended in transfer scam
On fast for 24 days, teacher forcibly admitted to hospital
Teachers block traffic on the bus stand roundabout in Patiala on Tuesday.
Tribune photo: Rajesh Sachar
Gobindpura farmers offered land
elsewhere
2,500 dengue cases, 15 deaths in Ludhiana
Rural Medical Officers to go on strike from today
5.92 lakh MT paddy procured
Cop pens down teachings of Kabir
Car found at Ambala with RDX was stolen from Ludhiana
Youth
Fest
HC tells Punjab not to grant new bus permits
600 kg infected meat seized in Patiala
3 held for attacking teacher
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Don't encourage defectors: CM to Left
Ludhiana/Nawanshahr, Oct 18 The Chief Minster was in the city to kick off a state-level campaign for creating awareness about the early detection of cancer. Calling the Sanjha Morcha a “pack of power-starved opportunists”, he termed both Barnala and Manpreet as traitors. He said, “The party is like mother” and “jeda bachha ma di pitth vich chhuri ghope, oh koi changa ho sakda hai? The sole aim of these defectors is to grab power in the state by hook or crook.” “Both Manpreet and Barnala have a dubious record of deceiving the party that helped them rise in politics, so people must stay away from them,” he said. A strong wind was blowing in favour of the state SAD-BJP alliance and the state Congress leadership and its candidates would also meet the same fate here soon, he added. The CM also had an interaction with mediapersons at the residence of late MLA Jatinder Singh Kariha in Nawanshahr. Though he kept on repeating that his visit to Kariha’s residence was just to share grief with family members of the late SAD MLA, there were speculations in political circles regarding declaration of Satinder Kaur Kariha, widow of Jatinder Singh Kariha, as the party nominee for the forthcoming Assembly elections.
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Badal tries to ‘woo’ Talwandi
Ludhiana, October 18 The visit is being followed closely in the political circles as it comes after veteran Akali leader Surjit Singh Barnala joined hands with Manpreet Badal’s Peoples Party of Punjab (PPP) yesterday and formed Sanjha
Morcha. At a function held to pay tributes to late Gurcharan Singh Tohra last year, Talwandi had ridiculed the Akali leadership in the presence of the CM. In April, Barnala’s wife Surjit
Kaur, too, had visited Talwandi’s house.
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News
Analysis
Chandigarh, October 18 From a political party that was struggling to make its presence felt in the state, the Sanjha Morcha has emerged as the third front that has the Congress and the SAD-BJP alliance worried. The statements of PPP president Manpreet Singh Badal over the past few days have clearly indicated that the third front has been constituted in an attempt to defeat the SAD-BJP alliance in the February 2012 general elections. He has projected himself as one of those aspiring to form the next government. If an alliance with the Bhaujan Samaj Party (BSP) is successful, the political contest in Punjab will actually become triangular. Both the Left parties and the SAD (Longowal) have their pockets of influence in the state. Though the SAD (Longowal) led by former Chief Minister Surjit Singh Barnala has a considerable hold in some areas of Malwa, the Left parties have pockets all over the state, including in Malwa. With Manpreet himself having a sizable following in the Malwa area, the contest in south of the Sutlej is bound to be intense. SAD (Longowal) is considered to have a strong hold in areas like Sunam, Mehal Kalan, Dhuri, Sangrur, Samana, Shatrana, etc, in Sangrur and Patiala parliamentary segments. This is also the area which both the SAD and Congress consider to be their stronghold. However, if the BSP agrees to go with the third front, it would make Congress’ position uneasy. Also, since the days of terrorism in Punjab, the Left parties traditionally oppose the SAD and vote for the Congress wherever it does not have its own candidates. In the 2007 assembly elections in Punjab, the SAD got the largest percentage of votes in the seats it contested. Overall, the SAD secured 37.09 per cent of the total votes and 45.07 per cent of the votes on the seats it contested. The Congress was a close second by securing 40.90 per cent of the total votes and the same per cent of votes from seats it contested (it contested all 117 seats). The BJP secured 8.28 per cent from the total votes polled in the state and 46.75 per cent in the 23 seats it contested in alliance with the SAD. But the difference this time could be based on which way the BSP goes.
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Morcha to release its agenda on Nov 6: Manpreet
Amritsar, October 18 Addressing a press conference here today, Sanjha Morcha chairman Manpreet Badal said though the poll manifesto of the four parties in the front may be different for the forthcoming assembly elections, there would be a common minimum programme on the basis of which the Morcha’s constituents will work. He said the CMP will be announced at Dhudike, the birthplace of noted freedom fighter Lala Lajpat Rai. He said the “yatra” would pass through at least 100 Assembly constituencies before culminating in the form of a massive rally on December 30. Each of these gatherings will have an aim for instance it will be fighting cancer in Bathinda, drug addiction in Amritsar and unemployment in Ludhiana. During these programmes, burning issues facing the state
and ways to resolve them will be discussed. Manpreet said the Morcha was also holding talks with the BSP for reaching a poll agreement and all rights in this regard had been given to Morcha patron Surjeet Singh Barnala. He said the Morcha has also sought support from Anna Hazare and his team, adding that he himself had met Arvind Kejriwal and others.
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New education policy draft ready
Revealing this, Nishan Singh Kahlon, nodal officer of the committee set up to prepare the policy, said: “We have held 33 meetings to prepare the draft of the policy. After discussion with the Minister, it will be formally submitted to the state government.” Headed by Guru Nanak Dev University’s former Vice-Chancellor Dr SP Singh, the committee has proposed to set up a state school education accreditation and assessment board to evaluate the standard of education in various school-level academic institutions. For colleges, a university education board has been proposed, which would conduct examination so that the universities could focus on research and also on the improvement of academic standards. It has proposed to set up Punjab state higher education council to regulate higher education. Uniformity in syllabus of all universities in the state has been proposed. The committee has recommended the constitution of a school regulatory authority to oversee the administrative and academic functioning of government schools, aided schools, recognised schools and non-recognised schools. The proposed authority, it says, should fix the academic qualifications, service conditions, salary of teaching staff and fee structure in schools. It has recommended the constitution of permanent teachers’ selection board to fill the vacant posts of teachers. Setting up government model science collegiate schools in each tehsil has also been proposed in the draft. The structure of such schools has also been explained. The restructuring of the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) as an autonomous body has also been recommended. Then, the committee also wants an end to the semester system introduced by the PSEB at the secondary level. “The new system has failed to serve the purpose and the board should switch to the old annual system of examination,” says the document. The state should earmark at least 6 per cent of its GDP for spending on education and of it, 60 per cent should be non-plan expenditure (on salaries, etc) and remaining should be from the plan for development of educational institutions. Special increments have been recommended for state and national award winner teachers and also for holding higher qualification such as MPhil and PhD. There is also a proposal to reduce the number of holidays in secondary schools. Besides summer vacations for 30 days and a seven-day break during winter, 10 gazetted holidays have been proposed. Key proposals
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Saanjh Kendra: State takes lead in implementing community policing
Setting up of the Saanjh Kendras is a unique model proposed by the Punjab Governance Reforms Commission (PGRC) and developed by Dr Pramod Kumar, Director, Institute for Development and Communication (IDC). These centres shall provide various services, including delivery of copies of FIRs and untraced reports, no objection certificates for armed licences, permission for religious and political processions, verification of tenants, registration of servants etc. In case these services are not delivered in the stipulated time, action can be initiated against the designated officer. The officer concerned can be fined ranging from Rs 500 to Rs 5,000 and portion of that amount can be given as a compensation to the citizen concerned. These centres shall also provide counselling to resolve disputes relating to domestic violence, dowry and crimes against women. These will also have the “police on call” facility for women in distress due to domestic violence, social atrocities and criminal offences. There will also be a victim relief centre providing first aid to the injured and free legal aid to the poor. These centres shall be run in partnership with representatives of the community. In Jalandhar, around 30-35 persons turned up to lodge complaints at five Saanjh Kendras of the Punjab Police that donned a friendly corporate look. Most of the complaints related to loss of mobile phone sets. The single-window
kendras, formally launched by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh
Badal, offer a variety of services ensured under the Right to Service Act. All five Saanjh
Kendras, according to Rajpal Sandhu, ADCP, Jalandhar, received 35 complaints on the first official functioning day today. “People are getting aware about the concept and certainly it is going to help them in a big way in the times to come,” said Rajpal
Sandhu. In Patiala, the Saanjh Kendra at the Sadar Police Station received 15 applications, pertaining to different matters on the first day. “Beginning from January 1, 2011, we have uploaded the entire data online so that everyone can check the status of their complaints in a hassle-free manner at the Saanjh Kendra,” said, Inspector Achhruram Sharma, in charge of the Saanjh Kendra. The complaints related to loss of mobile phones, voter cards etc. (With inputs from Varinder Singh in Jalandhar and Gagan K Teja in
Patiala) Duration for Services being Provided
*For road accident cases, stolen vehicle cases, theft cases reports shall be given as "Yet untraced" Designated officer: Station House Officer of police station First grievance redressal authority: DSP incharge of community policing suvidha centres (sub-division level) Second grievance redressal authority: SSP/SP incharge of community policing resource centres (district level)
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Rift in SAD, BJP over Aggarwal’s appointment as AG
Chandigarh, October 18 Indications are that the matter has also been taken up with senior BJP leader Tikshan Sud. In fact, eight to 10 law officers are believed to have met Sud on the issue. Sud was not available for comments, as he was “attending a meeting”. As of now, mass resignation of Punjab law officers owing allegiance to the BJP is not being ruled out. It is believed that the BJP is aggrieved over the fact that the party was not consulted by the SAD on the issue of appointment. The top brass of the BJP is apparently of the opinion that the SAD should have taken it in confidence, particularly when it was appointing an advocate who was not from its party fold. The party leadership is insisting that “their man” should have, rather, been appointed as the Advocate-General, in case “someone from outside” was to be taken. The BJP believes it has law officers competent enough to occupy the covered post. Moreover, the party is insisting that Aggarwal “is far from neutral”. Dubbing him as “pro-Congress” and “anti-Akali”, the BJP says he has represented the Congress in more than one case. In effect, Aggarwal has pleaded on behalf of Punjab’s former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh and even his media adviser BIS Chahal, the party is alleging. This is not all. The party says Aggarwal’s son has been in the Haryana AG’s office. As Punjab and Haryana continue to be at loggerheads on more than one issue, his presence as the Advocate-General may prove to be a deterrent to the interests of the State.
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Capt warns Akalis against intimidation
Chandigarh, October
18 Responding to complaints by the party workers who met him at the PCC office here today, Capt Amarinder told them not to expect any fair play from the police who was playing into the Akali hands. “You better carry your own lathis with you to teach these Akali goons a lesson”, he told a group of people who had come to meet him from
Gurdaspur. The PCC president, who met a number of party workers, leaders, legislators and delegations, disclosed that the Akali goons had started intimidating the Congress workers and the police was not doing anything. “It is a matter of three months more and we will set everybody right”, he warned while asking the police not to be partial as they will have to account for their actions.
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Deputy CM all praise for Anna
Talking to the media during his visit to the city for inspecting arrangement before the Kabaddi World Cup, Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal praised Anna Hazare for the campaign against the Congress for delay in introducing the Jan Lokpal Bill, he said the people of Punjab should join hands with the Team Anna and vote against the Congress in the Assembly elections next year.
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33 panchayat secys, 3 others suspended in transfer scam
Chandigarh, October 18 According to the orders, JP Singh, Divisional Deputy Director, Ferozepur, had found that Deputy Director Mohinder Singh, Superintendent Desraj Gupta and Senior Assistant Amarjit Singh had allegedly misused their official position for a consideration and transferred 33 Panchayat Secretaries and Gram Sewaks. Terming it as a case of “bogus transfers”, the minister has ordered that FIR be registered against all the accused and beneficiaries be pursued and in the meantime, the three officials be proceeded against legally. Desraj Gupta has since retired and the minister has ordered that all his pension benefits be withheld. The Director Rural Development and Panchayats (RDP) has been asked to take strict administrative action while the matter has been entrusted to the Mohali police where an FIR was registered a few weeks ago when the matter had come to light. According to BS Multani, Secretary, RDP, the record on transfers showed discrepancies so the matter was ordered to be investigated. Transfers in some cases have found to have been done inappropriately, while the police has been asked to investigate the other cases. “It appears that there has been some manipulation and we think some fraud has been committed”. Panchayat Secretaries are responsible for maintaining records and looking after the work of panchayats. Though the nature of job of all Panchayat Secretaries and Gram Sewaks is similar but bigger panchayats have larger funds and possibility of positing for lucrative reasons cannot be ruled out.
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On fast for 24 days, teacher forcibly admitted to hospital
Patiala, October 18 Soon after he was taken away, two women members of the union, Manpreet Kaur from Sangrur and Harjeet Kaur from Ludhiana, sat on hunger strike. Agitated with this behaviour, the teachers blocked traffic near Patiala bus stand and carried out a protest march throughout the city. Ajmer Singh has been on hunger strike in the wake of delay in non-acceptance of demands of sikhiya karmis, including regularisation of their services, cover sikhiya karmis under the Sarv Sikhsha Abhiyan, enhancement in salaries on a par with SSA teachers, maternity leave for women employees with pay, increase in casual leaves as per the Civil Services Rule, deduction of employees' provident fund from salaries and implementation of annual increment. Talking to TNS, Ajmer Singh said the administration could not force him to end his fast. “They have brought me to the hospital forcibly but I will continue my fast from here also. Chief Minister of Punjab Parkash Singh Badal has called us for a meeting on October 20 and if our demands are not met, we will intensify our stir further,” he added. District general secretary of the union, Joga Singh said the government had deliberately taken Ajmer Singh away to end our strike but we would not succumb to this unjustified attitude. Medical Superintendent of Rajindra Hospital, Dr MS Mohi said the condition of Ajmer Singh was stable. “We have constituted a medical board, which will give report about his health everyday. As of now, all reports are normal. His blood pressure is normal and there is no sign of dehydration,” she added.
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Gobindpura farmers offered land
elsewhere
Mansa, October 18 A meeting was chaired by Bathinda Zone IG Nirmal Singh Dhillon at Barnala where members of the 17 farmers’ unions, Mansa DC Ravinder Singh, former Mansa SSP Hardial Singh Mann and others were present. The IG offered to give land “near” Gobindpura village to the farmers in lieu of nearly 70 acres acquired by
the state government to set up the plant. While farmers’ leaders who attended the meeting could not be contacted for comments, IG Nirmal Dhillon said the meeting was held in a cordial manner. “We will show a piece of land to farmers tomorrow and if they agree the matter would be resolved,” said the
IG. He, however, added that the matter might resolve completely after two or three more such meetings. A farmer leader from
Mansa, pleading anonymity, said it was a decent offer and farmers’ leaders and affected families were likely to agree. He, however, stated that it would depend on the distance of land from the village, its fertility and other factors. He said the leaders were likely to see the land tomorrow.
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2,500 dengue cases, 15 deaths in Ludhiana
Ludhiana, October 18 Though maximum dengue cases are being reported from the slum areas, even posh localities like Sarabha Nagar have not remained untouched. According to Chief Medical Officer Dr Dalip Kumar, the department is working on war-footing to tackle the disease at both preventive and curative levels. "Our teams are conducting dengue fever surveys across the city, particularly in high-risk areas where dengue cases have been reported.” Dr Kumar also said that cleanliness drives had been initiated in different areas of the city. "Stagnant water is being drained out from water coolers, flower pots and containers. Fumigation is being done. People are being advised to use mosquito repellants and mosquito nets," he said. He said the mass media wing of the department was conducting awareness campaigns to tell the public about the symptoms and the causes of the disease. According to the district epidemiologist, Dr Anil Verma, the number of officially confirmed dengue patients is 344 in Ludhiana district. Dr Kanwal Masih, medical superintendent of Christian Medical College and Hospital , said the number of dengue patients that had come for treatment to the hospital in this season so far was around 400. Dr Masih added that according to the CMCH records, three patients had died of dengue. Dr Sandeep Puri, medical superintendent of Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, said that over 1,700 dengue cases had been treated at the hospital.
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Rural Medical Officers to go on strike from today
Patiala, October 18 Spokesman of the Rural Medical Services Association (RMSA), Dr Rajesh said all the rural dispensaries in the district would remain closed and the entire responsibility would be on the officials of the Zila Parishad, who have allegedly not released
their salary. "It is unfortunate that RMOs who are taking care of the rural healthcare are being treated in such a manner. How will our families survive if the salary for six months is not disbursed", said Dr Aslam Parvez, state president of the association. Despite repeated attempts, the Zila Parishad authorities could not be contacted.
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5.92 lakh MT paddy procured
Fatehgarh Sahib, Oct 18 Out of Rs 463.62 crore, the total cost of procured paddy, Rs 438 crore has been paid to the farmers. SR Ladhar, Divisional Commissioner, Patiala, stated this while talking to mediapersons at the Sirhind grain mandi on Sunday.
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Cop pens down teachings of Kabir
Chandigarh, October 18 The bilingual book, “Kabir ke sadabahar dohe”, containing 100 verses of Kabir, was released by Punjab DGP Anil Kaushik. ADGP (Crime) Sanjeev Gupta, IG CSR Reddy and IG MK Tiwari were present on the occasion. A 1998-batch IPS officer, Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh says: “The Indian society is passing through a transitional phase and there is a visible rat race to adopt Western culture to achieve modernity, which is an open threat to the great Indian traditions”.
— TNS
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Car found at Ambala with RDX was stolen from Ludhiana
Ludhiana October 18 Inputs provided by the intelligence agencies have sent the local police in a tizzy, who are reluctant to share any information and termed the issue related to national security. While the police remained tightlipped on the issue, Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal reassured faith in the working of the Police Department and claimed that terrorism was not reviving in the state. Hectic activity was witnessed at the local police headquarters after it was found that the Tata Indica car bearing chassis number (67*600142CUZP39582*) and engine number (279001153804AR3) was stolen from the city. According to police sources, they were coordinating with car dealers to know from whom the vehicle was purchased.
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Youth
Fest
Patiala, October 18 After Punjabi university, Khalsa College, Patiala, and Government College for Girls were declared second and third, respectively. In the geet/ghazal category, Punjabi varsity won the overall trophy, in skit Modi College was overall champion, Modi College topped in Mime category, Punjabi University won Dance category and State College of Education won overall trophy in fine arts. Government Physical College was declared first in Bhangra and Punjabi University, Patiala, was second. — TNS
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HC tells Punjab not to grant new bus permits
Chandigarh, October 18 The directions came on a petition filed by Amritsar resident Bikramjit Singh through counsel Parminder Pal Singh Thethi. In his petition, Bikramjit Singh asserted: “The respondents have been issuing permits in contravention to the scheme for rendering transport services in the State of Punjab by diluting the share of STU in favour of the private operators”. The move, the petitioner added, was “creating a mad competition between the bus operators to pick up passengers, thereby putting the safety of the passengers travelling in the buses and the general public travelling on the road at a great risk”. Elaborating, the petitioner contended the State of Punjab, in accordance with Motor Vehicle Act, notified a scheme for rendering transport services in the state vide notification dated August, 9, 1990. Seeking the implementation of the scheme, the petitioner contended as per it all inter-state and monopoly routes were to be operated by the STUs. Besides this, the routes on the national highways within the State were to be operated by the STUs and private operators in the ratio of 70:30. The operation on the state highways was to be undertaken by the STUs and private operators in the ratio of 50:50. The scheme was amended in 1997 and the ratio of routes on the national highways between the STUs and private operators was fixed as 75:25. The ratio of routes on the state highways between STUs and private operators was changed to 40 STUs and 60 private operators. But, “over the years the respondents willfully violated the scheme to favour the private operators and the ratio so fixed has been greatly disturbed in favour of the private operators”. The petitioner added as of now the “buses are leaving one station within a time interval of as less as one minute…. By the time a bus leaves the bus stand, the next bus is already moving behind the first one and then a mad race to pick up passengers starts between the drivers of the two buses. The drivers of these buses compete on the road like they are competing in an auto race, desperate to win by hook or crook. Stay on typing test The Punjab and Haryana High Court has stayed the holding of Punjabi typing test, scheduled to be held from October 19 for recruitment of more than 800 clerks in departments of the Punjab Government and the offices of Division Commissioners. The order by Justice Rajan Gupta came on two petitions filed by Ravneesh Kumar and Akashdeep Singh of Sangrur district. They had challenged the holding of the typing test with the facility of only two particular fonts for attempting the examination.
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600 kg infected meat seized in Patiala
Patiala, October 18 Civil Surgeon Dr Varinder Singh Mohi said he had received numerous complaints regarding this store. “This store was located in the residential area and its workers used to throw residue on the road itself causing problems to the area residents. The residents complained that because of this, the entire area stinks. When we reached there today, the entire area was stinking badly. In the store we found that the meat was covered with flies and mosquitoes. Therefore, we took it to the MC’s dump and destroyed it,” he added. Interestingly, this store is only 100 yards away from the residence of the Deputy Commissioner of
Patiala.
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3 held for attacking teacher
Muktsar, October 18 The police is searching for the four other accused, including a woman, said Gursewak Singh, SHO, Kabarwala police station. In a bizarre incident in Mohlan village yesterday, Baljit Singh Bittu, a sarpanch and his six supporters not only paraded the teacher in an open jeep after smearing his face black but mercilessly beaten him up in full public view for his courage to spread ‘gossips’ about his (sarpanch)illicit relations with a woman in the village. Meanwhile, PPCC president Capt Amarinder Singh has condemned the attack.
— TNS
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The Patiala police forcibly took away Ajmer Singh Aulakh today, state president of the Sikhiya Karmi Adhiyapak Union, who had been sitting on hunger strike since September 25 while he had gone to freshen up at a nearby house in Rajpura Colony and got him admitted to the Government Rajindra Hospital here.
Ludhiana October 18
Chandigarh, October 18
Chandigarh, October 18
Ludhiana, October 18