Official speak
Political bosses shield goons of liquor contractors
Deter cops from going beyond filing complaint
Amritsar, November 27
Liquor goons and associates of various liquor contractors in the city rule the roost. Owing to their political connections, the police department has failed miserably to nail them. Their strong political connections and money power is alleged to be behind them. Liquor contractors enjoy political patronage and their goons care two hoots for the law enforcement agency.

The hospital authorities have asked the state government for its renovation. The sewerage system of the hospital too has collapsed. The hospital building is one of the oldest buildings in the city. The hospital authorities have also written to the Municiapl Corporation authorities several times about the problem of stray dogs. — Dr nirmal c kajal, deputy medical superintendent, TB hospital

Amritsar, November 27
Liquor goons and associates of various liquor contractors in the city rule the roost. Owing to their political connections, the police department has failed miserably to nail them. Their strong political connections and money power is alleged to be behind them. Liquor contractors enjoy political patronage and their goons care two hoots for the law enforcement agency.

Going by recent incidents, these elements openly take the law into their own hands while the police does not go beyond initial probe. In a majority of the cases, cops hesitate to register a complaint. If in case it is registered, they refrain from going any further with it.

Yesterday, goons of a liquor contractor allegedly beat up Neeraj Kumar Nayyar and his wife when they were returning home in Sadar Bazaar area on their motorcycle. Several unidentified goons of a liquor contractor came in their cars and thrashed the couple. They even followed the couple and ransacked their home.

Earlier, armed liquor contractor and his henchmen barged into a marriage function and disrupted the whole ceremony while beating several members of the guests on November 4. The agitated members of the families blocked the highway to demand registration of a case against the accused.

The police has booked an excise inspector accompanying him besides the liquor contractor and over a dozen of his men.

In another incident, a woman was abducted and raped by several men when she was on her way to Beas for the treatment of her ailing son in the wee hours of October 29.

In the preliminary investigations, the family members had alleged that the vehicle used by the accused belonged to a liquor contractor while they put the needle of suspicion towards the involvement of goons of the liquor contractor in the case. The case is under investigation.

A senior police official on the condition of anonymity said tough competition among liquor contractors was the main reason behind the rising incidents of violence involving goons of liquor contractors. Whenever we tried to take action against them their political bosses ask us not to take action against them.

“In a recent meeting between marriage palaces, resorts, liquor contractors and excise officials, all have unanimously decided that no liquor contractor will enter any marriage resort or palace on their own and without an excise official. If liquor contractors receive any information regarding illegal sale of liquor, they will have to inform the excise department to look into the matter,” Police commissioner RP Mittal said. Marriage palaces and resort owners were also directed to follow rules and get the requisite permit, he added.

Amritsar, November 27
An employee of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) today alleged torture at the hands of several police officials deputed at Kot Khalsa police station here late last evening.

The victim, Daljit Singh (26), a resident of Nivi Patti in Kot Khalsa area, has been admitted to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital here with an internal spine injury. He was operated upon at a private hospital in Mumbai for some spine problem five months back also.

He alleged that policemen beat him up when he had gone to file a complaint against his relatives after a dispute arose with him and his relatives two days back. His relatives live in Sundar Nagar area near the old octroi near Guru Nanak Dev University. He alleged the policemen caught hold of him and thrashed him brutally. “Even after I told the police officials that I had been operated upon due to some spinal problem, they continued thrashing me. They hit me repeatedly on my back leaving me in severe pain,” he said.

Sukhwinder Singh, in-charge Kot Khalsa police station, has refuted the charges. He said the boy was already suffering with the problem. He said both the parties have submitted their complaints and the police was looking into the matter. He said all charges were baseless.

Amritsar, November 27
The decision of the Punjab State Ministerial Staff Union to go on a mass casual leave may paralyse the functioning of the various departments of the state government. The members have decided to go leave from Monday to Saturday. The decision that all ministerial staff employees will go on a mass casual leave came after a meeting of the district unit of the union. During the preceding week the ministerial staff had remained on mass casual leave for three days.

The union has warned that the employees will proceed on leave for an indefinite period if the government did not accept their demands within the next week. “The Cabinet sub-committee constituted to listen to the grievances has failed to take a positive note of our problems,” Jagdish Thakur, district president of the union said.

Thakur said the present grade pay given to the ministerial staff is lower than that given to elementary teachers and staff nurses. “The ministerial staff is being given a grade pay of Rs 2,400 whereas elementary teachers are drawing Rs 4,200. On the other hand educational qualification for an elementary teacher is Class XII whereas the ministerial employee has to be a graduate,” he said.

He said the ministerial staff workers should be provided grade pay as per their qualifications. Thakur said a superintendent in any government office draws a grade pay of Rs 4,200 while a teacher beonging to the master cadre in schools gets Rs 5,000 as grade pay.

He said, similarly, the staff nurses at the hospitals are at a better position than the ministerial staff. “With at least one lakh workers taking part in the agitation, no work will be done at the government offices,” said Thakur.

About the possible inconvenience to the general public, he said, “The responsibility of the problems faced by the general masses lies with the state government. The employees will resume their services immediately if the government accepts their demands.”

The protest will disrupt work at the Excise and Taxation department, education department, PWD (B&R), public health, agriculture, horticulture, sanitation, irrigation, revenue, treasury, DC office and Suvida centres.

Amritsar, November 27
The Sangat Langha Kartarpur (SLK) has once again asked for an international corridor between Dera Baba Nanak, a border sub-division in India, to Kartarpur in Pakistan. The SLK organised a seminar at Sant Singh Sukha Singh School in this regard. Sangat Langha Kartarpur was speacially formed to seek international passage between India and Pakistan.

Addressing the seminar, prominent eye surgeon from Pakistan Dr Taj Kirmani said the corridor would be a milestone on the path of peace, progress and bonhomie between two nations.

He said it would erase memory of the bitter past and would open a new chapter in the bilateral progress in the sub-continent.

He said the shrine pertaining to the founder of Sikhism Guru Nanak Dev was a symbol of universal peace and brotherhood and the same could be the guiding force in future engagements between neighbouring countries.

He said he had organised many eye camps at the shrine where Guru Nanak Dev had stayed for 18 long years.

SLK president Dr Daljit Singh, a noted eye surgeon in Amritsar, said the matter of the international passage is associated with the bilateral relations between India and Pakistan.

"And as long as the relations are strained, there is little hope on this front," he said.

Convener of the seminar BS Goraya said Sikh devotees have been seeking corridor to historic Kartarpur Gurdwara in Pakistan, about 3.5 km from Dera Baba Nanak for the past over a decade.

He rued that the progress was very slow and tardy.

He said that the Pakistan government had permitted the passage in 2000 while it took 10 long years for the Punjab legislative assembly to endorse this.

The state assembly unanimously passed a resolution in favour of the international passage and forwarded it to the Union government on October 1, 2010.

He recalled that his organisation had submitted a memorandum in this regard to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh during his visit to the holy city in 2004.

He said the then External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee had visited Dera Baba Nanak, which falls in Gurdaspur district, in 2008 to assess the possibilities of setting up the corridor.

However, subsequently no progress has been made forward on the matter.

SGPC member from Jalandhar Kuldip Singh said more seminars would be held with a view to mobilise people and their opinion on the matter.

He said the next seminar would be organised at Batala.

Surinder Pal Singh, chairperson, Guru Nanak Mission Society of Atlanta, USA, said the move must be aimed at propagating the philosophy and message of universal brotherhood.

Amritsar, November 27
Puneet Issar, actor-writer and director of upcoming film ‘I am Singh’, came calling to the city for promoting his film ‘I am Singh’ here today. He said “When a Sikh man or woman dons a turban, it ceases to be just a band of cloth, but in actual it’s a complete commitment, obedience and respect towards the founder of the Khalsa, Guru Gobind Singh. It’s like how they crown themselves as Singhs and Kaurs. That’s the real identity. But it is being grossly mistaken overseas, especially post 9/11 attack.”

“Our endavour, through this film (to be released on December 2), is to clear the mistaken identity of the people of America who are misrepresented by people around the world. The film is based on true facts about what had happened to few such people who became victims of mistaken identity and their fight against this frivolous discrimination, but never losing faith in the American judicial system.”

He said, “If we review the whole issue, the attackers did not know who the Sikhs were. Not only were the Sikhs mistaken to be some other community, but they were mistaken to be terrorists. People belonging to the Islamic community too experienced hatred.

Meanwhile, MP Navjot Singh Sidhu, who was present at the promotional event, was dejected by the ‘couldn’t careless attitude’ of the government towards the trials and tribulations that the Sikh community went through.

Amritsar, November 27
Salwar kameez in Pakistan and Afghanistan has got an Amritsar connection. Joda fabric, manufactured in Amritsar, is a hit among residents of Pakistan and Afghanistan. The fabric is used in making salwar kameez, also known as pathani suit and considered to be the national dress of men in both the countries.

It is another thing that hardly anyone knows about the fact. A reason might be that the fabric is exported via Dubai. From the UAE, it is exported to different destinations like Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Sanjiv Sharma, managing director of a leading exporting company, said the company exports three lakh metres of fabric made from viscose to Dubai every month.

He said at present the fabric was first exported to Dubai from Mumbai and then exported to Pakistan, Afghanistan and some other Muslim nations.

He said transportation cost would come down drastically if there is permission to export the fabric directly via the land route. “But that depends on Pakistan granting MFN status to India and opening of the Integrated Check Posts (ICPs) on both sides of the border.

He said a meter of cloth costs between 1 and 1.25 US dollar depending upon six different varieties of the fabric. The cost double up by the time the same piece of cloth arrives in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

A joda manufacturer Master Omi, having decades of long experience, said viscose is created from a combination of natural and synthetic components, and it can be made into the more common form of rayon used for many types of textile products.

He said it has a silky appearance and feel and has the ability to breathe in a manner similar to cotton.

He said manufacturing of this cloth was introduced in the holy city in 1992 by Tilak Raj Mehra of TK Shawl. Earlier, Japan was a major manufacturer and used to be the principal exporter of cloth to these countries. However, Japan abandoned trade as textile was a labour intensive trade.

Besides Amritsar, he said, Bhilwara and Mumbai are the other major manufacturing centres of the fabric in the country and all of these are mainly exporting units.

At present, the fabric cannot be exported via land customs station at Attari-Wagah Joint Check Post as the fabric doesn’t feature in the positive list of Pakistan government.

Presently, the Indian and Pakistani traders can trade in about 1,900 items incorporated in the positive list issued by the Pakistan government.

Similarly, the fabric can not be exported through land route from India to Afghanistan as the Pakistan has permitted only transit route for export from Afghanistan to India.

Amritsar is a major manufacturer of Joda fabric as the city has weaving and spinning facilities and importantly availability of skilled labour.

Amritsar, November 27
Unidentified looters broke open the windowpane of a car parked outside the branch of the IDBI bank in Beas and decamped with briefcase containing Rs 5 lakh cash and important documents.

Property dealers Sukhjinder Singh and Harjinder Singh, in a complaint to the police said they had gone to the bank after parking their car outside the bank.

On their return they found the windowpane of the car had been broken and a briefcase was missing.

The Beas police has registered a case in this connection.

In a similar incident some miscreants broke open the back glass of a vehicle belonging to Gautam Sharma of Anand Avenue.