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Cong ticket: Women form 40 per cent of applicants
Capt assures new industrial policy, more jobs for youth
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Shift cops, govt told
CM showers bounty on home dist
Day 2: Farmers refuse to budge
RS condemns Milan incident
Panth Rattan to CM
Utilities to pay for deficiency in service
Candlelight march in support of teachers
Stay on bus permits to remain, says HC
Samana woman acquitted
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Cong ticket: Women form 40 per cent of applicants
Chandigarh, December 7 Women have also come out in large numbers for the reserved seats, keeping with party president Sonia Gandhi’s express wish to project educated women from such seats. Jalandhar MP Mohinder Singh Kaypee’s wife Suman Kaypee has applied for the party ticket from Jalandhar West. Dhanaula legislator Kuldeep Bhattal’s son and daughter-in-law have applied from Barnala. The Dhanaula constituency has been dissolved post-delimitation. Muktsar legislator Sunny Brar’s wife Kiran Brar, who is daughter-in-law of former CM Harcharan Singh Brar, has applied for the Muktsar seat. According to DCC sources, former Speaker Kewal Krishan’s son Rajnish Bubbi has applied from Mukerian. Fatehgarh Sahib MP Sukhdev Singh Libra’s son has applied from Bassi Pathana. It is clear that senior leaders are hoping for more than one seat for their family. Former minister Chaudhary Jagjit Singh’s son Surinder Chaudhary has applied for the party ticket from Adampur and is also a candidate for the Kartarpur seat. Former minister Santokh Chaudhary’s son Vikram Chaudhary has applied from Kartarpur and Adampur. Santokh Chaudhary is a candidate from
Phillaur.
Ex Factor State Planning Board ex-Dy Chairman RR Bhardwaj has applied from Dera Bassi. Former AAG Maninder Singh Patti, son of former Gurdawara Judicial Commission chairman KS Patti, has applied from Patti and sitting PPSC member Dr Satwant Singh Mohi from Dirba. Devinder Kaur, widow of former IGP Hardish Singh Dhillon, has applied from Dasuya from where ex-DGP SS Virk is also an applicant from this seat. New Seats
Women Power Among the women candidates, Punjab Mahila Congress president Dr Malti Thapar has applied from Dharamkot constituency. Former Mahila chiefs MS Ratna and Dr Harbans Kaur have applied from Amritsar North and Ludhiana East, respectively. Supinder Kalkat, daughter of former minister Amir Singh Kalkat, has applied from Urmar and Lakhwinder Kaur Garcha from Mohali.
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Capt assures new industrial policy, more jobs for youth
Batala, December 7 “The SGPC, the body which conferred the award, is controlled by the Akalis and both the CM and his son are in the habit of arm-twisting it to suit their ends,” Amarinder said. Addressing a rally here, the PPCC chief lambasted Badal and his son Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal terming them as “liars of the first order”. Amarinder also promised to bring in a new industrial policy if the Congress was voted to power in the coming assembly elections. He said there were nearly 47 lakh unemployed people in Punjab primarily because of the “myopic industrial policies of the Badal father-son duo.” There was a clamour amongst ticket seekers of Qadian, Batala and Fatehgarh Churian to bring in the maximum number of supporters to the rally in an attempt to impress the PPCC chief. The rally was held at VMS College, owned by PPCC vice-president Ashwani Sekhri who along with Dr SS Nijjar is a frontrunner in the race to secure ticket from Batala Vidhan Sabha segment. Gurdaspur District Congress Committee chief Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa remark that “Sukhbir says the SAD will rule Punjab for next 25 years, however, when the Congress comes to power he will run to some foreign country in just 25 hours” had the crowd in peals of laughter. Gurdaspur MP Partap Bajwa, AICC Punjab affairs in-charge Gulchain Singh Charak, Leader of Opposition in Vidhan Sabha Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, former minister Tripit Rajinder Singh Bajwa and Youth Congress leader Vikram Joshi were among those present.
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PCC’s development claims a sham: Badal
Sukhna Ablu (Gidderbaha), December 7 Replying to a query on the sidelines of a Sangat Darshan programme in Gidderbaha assembly constituency today, Badal said the tall claims made by Congress leaders in their advertisements were hollow as no development had taken place in the state during their tenure. Badal said, “For instance, they (Congress leaders) did not even generate a single unit of power during their government in Punjab. Now, they are making big claims, which are a sham”. He added, “I can compare the developmental works done by both the parties as I have a record of the works we did. We opened 17 colleges since we formed the present government while they had opened only three. We opened six universities and they opened one. Moreover, Punjab was on the 14th position in the education sector, but now it ranks third in the country”. About the health sector, he said, “We increased the budget outlay for this very important sector to Rs 340 crore, which is an achievement in itself”. Besides, he said his government provided jobs to one lakh people, but the Congress government had imposed a ban on fresh recruitment. Earlier, addressing the gathering, he targeted his nephew PPP chief Manpreet Singh Badal, saying, “The people of Punjab will teach him a lesson in the coming elections. Manpreet and his Sanjha Morcha will meet the same fate as was met by the front which had unsuccessfully contested SGPC elections with the help of the Congress”.
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Shift cops, govt told
Chandigarh, December 7 Sources said the Election Commission had made it clear to the government that more than 12 officials, including a senior superintendent of police, should be given postings that do no entail dealing with the general public. These officials, said sources, were transferred from their place of posting during the last General Election as well due to poll-related complaints. A meeting in this regard was held recently between the Election Commission officials and the Punjab Home Secretary, it is learnt. Chief Electoral Officer Kusumjit Kaur Sidhu has also told the state government to rationalise the posting of senior police officials in a few districts. One such district was Moga, the constituency from where former DGP PS Gill is expected to be the SAD candidate. In Moga, officials at the DSP and inspector level are in excess of the sanctioned strength and need to be shifted elsewhere, an Election Commission official said.
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CM showers bounty on home dist
Jalandhar, December 7 Of the Rs 20 crore sanctioned for the fund this year, a sum of Rs 18 crore (90 per cent) has been spent on Muktsar alone. With the SAD in a poll mode, some villages have received more funds than the others within the district too. Gaggar has received (Rs 1.10 lakh), Dabwali Dhab (Rs 75 lakh), Beedowali (Rs 50 lakh), Kolianwali (Rs 45 lakh), Kutianwali (Rs 39 lakh) and Middu Khera (Rs 34 lakh). The amount for these villages is higher than that disbursed in the Hoshiarpur (Rs 37 lakh), Sangrur (Rs 27 lakh), Jalandhar (Rs 25 lakh), Ludhiana (Rs 26.5 lakh), Bathinda (Rs 24 lakh), Patiala (Rs 19.25 lakh), Ferozepur (Rs 11 lakh), Fatehgarh Sahib and Taran Tarn (Rs 10 lakh each), SAS Nagar (Rs 5.43 lakh) and Roopnagar (Rs 4 lakh) districts. Districts like Gurdaspur, Kapurthala, Nawanshahr and Mansa have not received any money at all. Parvinder Singh Kittna, general secretary, Human Empowerment League of Punjab (HELP), who obtained these details through the Right to Information Act, said the figures exposed the CM’s claim that he worked without bias. “If granting over Rs 1 crore to a village in his home constituency and nothing at all to eight districts is not bias, what is,” he asked.
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Slapgate: Dy CM evades queries
Patiala, December 7 Instead,
Sukhbir, who was addressing a Punjab Vikas Yatra rally here, kept reiterating that the SAD-BJP government had done a “commendable” job. Speaking to mediapersons after addressing the rally, Sukhbir preferred to ignore several questions, including those pertaining to the list of the previous Congress government’s achievements that was advertised in several newspapers today. As mediapersons fired a volley of adverse questions, the Badal Junior said, “Like the Congress, the media too is issueless in Punjab.” Earlier, Sukhbir took a dig at the senior Congress leadership, particularly Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Capt Amarinder Singh. However, contrary to what Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had recently stated that he would never use unparliamentarily language against his political rivals, his son allegedly used derogatory remarks against Amarinder. From the dais, Sukhbir said, “It is up to the people of the state to make a choice between Parkash Singh Badal, who starts working at 4 am in the morning till late night, or Amarinder, who gets up at 12 noon and again gets drunk the moment the sun sets."
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Day 2: Farmers refuse to budge
Beas/Bathinda, December 7 Farmer leader Rattan Singh Randhawa said though the state government had initiated talks with them, no breakthrough could be reached. The farmer leaders held talks with the government through Tarn Taran DC Satwant Singh Johal, who has got the additional charge of Amritsar, and Amritsar (Rural) SSP Gurmeet Singh Chauhan thrice during the day. Addressing the protesters, Kisan Sangharsh Committee leader Satnam Singh Pannu said the government was initiating dialogue with them on one hand while on the other it was deploying heavy police force allegedly with an intention to suppress their movement. The farmer leaders announced that the protests at Beas and elsewhere in Punjab would continue till their demands were met. When contacted, DC Johal said he was busy in a meeting regarding preparations for the CM’s Tarn Taran visit tomorrow. Meanwhile, commuters had a harrowing time today as well. Gurmukh Singh, whose father Shiv Singh breathed his last at the Dera Radha Swami Hospital here, had to shift his body to another vehicle parked on the other side of the blockade so as to take it home. He was admitted to the hospital yesterday. Due to the blockade, the commuters travelling in their vehicles have to travel an extra 50 km and above on the internal roads, which are not motorable, to reach their destination. The commuters travelling by buses and taxis are crossing the blockade stretch on foot and catching alternative mode of transport from other side of the blockade. Earlier, there was tension in the air in the morning as there were reports that the police may lathicharge the farmers. Both the sides seemed prepared for the confrontation. The cops were sporting protective jackets and helmets while the volunteers of farmer outfits were also armed with lathis. At Jethuke railway station in Bathinda, the farmers’ dharna on the rail track entered its second day. Eight trains at Bathinda railway station were either cancelled or delayed. Five DSPs, 10 SHOs, riot control vehicles, fire brigades and a large number of police personnel from Bathinda and Mansa district were deployed around the agitators. Bathinda Deputy Commissioner KK Yadav and SSP Sukhchain Singh Gill reached the spot and tried to get the dharna lifted by talks but to no avail. The dharna was on till the filing of this report.
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RS condemns Milan incident
The issue was raised by Shiromani Akali Dal member Naresh Gujral, who referred to the latest incident involving Jet Airways commander Ravijodh Singh at the Milan airport. Khan said, "The entire House joins in condemning this incident and this should be conveyed to the government". Gujral said the Sikhs were being publicly humiliated. While seeking government intervention in checking the recurrence of such incidents, Gujral said, "This has outraged the Sikh community worldwide". He was of the view that the government should urgently summon the Italian Ambassador and convey to him in unequivocal terms the anger of the community over the matter. "The government has to ensure that the brave Sikhs are not insulted again and again," he said. He was joined on the issue by Deputy Leader of the BJP in the House SS Ahluwalia, who termed the incidents as "highly condemnable". He pointed out that the turban had religious significance and could not be removed and screened through X-rays like caps. "This should be condemned", he said, pointing out that this was happening to the citizens of the country where the Prime Minister, a Sikh, wore a turban. "The government is not taking it seriously," Ahluwalia said and referred to other such incidents including one involving India 's former Ambassador in the US Meera Shankar. The BJP member said that the government should take immediate steps to ensure that the Sikhs were not humiliated anywhere in the world on the pretext of security. He demanded that the Italian Ambassador be summoned to convey the hurt felt by the Sikh community. Akali Del leader Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa echoed similar sentiments.
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Residents oppose move to auction childcare hospital
Fatehgarh Sahib, December 7 The foundation stone of the hospital, which was to be constructed at a cost of Rs 7 crore, was laid on December 25, 2005 at Peerjain village by the then Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh, who had dedicated the project to Mata Gujri and two younger sahibjadas of Guru Gobind Singh. The work was started and around Rs 2.5 crore was spent, but soon after the SAD-BJP government took over, the construction work stopped and the building was handed over to the PIDB. Later, the then Health Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla got an approval from the state Cabinet for its auction. Kuljeet Singh Nagra, a Congress leader, recently filed a PIL in the Punjab and Haryana High Court against the decision of the government, following which a notice has been issued to the state. The panchayat of Peerjain village, in its letter to the Chief Justice and Punjab Governor, has demanded the completion of the hospital for which it had donated 3 acres of land. It maintained that its land should be returned if the government did not want to construct the hospital. As the "Sahidi Jor Mela" is approaching, the people have started raising the issue by linking it to the great martyrs. Sohan Singh Peerjain, president, District Literary Sabha, said on one hand, Parkash Singh Badal was given "Faqr-e-Qaum" award for his services to the Sikh martyrs and the community while on the other, his government had scant regard for the martyrs as it could not spare funds for it and decided
to auction the incomplete hospital. He said while the Govt. was spending crores on setting up of various memorials, the hospital, which could have proved a boon for the locals, was not being constructed probably due to political reasons. Yashveer Mahajan, deputy commissioner, said the decision to stop the work or to auction the hospital had been taken at the government level, but as far as catering to the medical needs of the local people were concerned, there were two hospitals nearby, Khera Hospital and the Fatehgarh Sahib Civil Hospital.
fact file
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Panth Rattan to CM
Chandigarh, December 7 “Only a non-controversial personality deserves the prestigious Panth Ratan and not a controversial and political personality like Badal. Badal's nomination for Panth Ratan has divided the Sikhs across the world,” the memorandum said. The federation alleged that Badal had patronised the Nirankaris in the 70s and Dera Sacha Sauda later. It said in 1984, thousands of Sikh soldiers had deserted the Army on a call given by Badal and several hundred were killed. These Sikh soldiers were later abandoned. They were not rehabilitated though Badal had been CM twice since then. In 1997 Badal had won the elections on the promise of prosecuting police officials responsible for killing Sikhs during 1984-1997. However, he did not keep his promise, the federation said. It also said thgat recently Badal had welcomed BJP leader LK Advani who had supported the military action on Harmandar Sahib in June 1984.
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Utilities to pay for deficiency in service
Chandigarh, December 7 A notification on the State Power Regulatory Commission’s site says that the consumers will be compensated for any deficiency in service by Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) and Punjab State Transmission Corporation Limited (PSTCL) beginning January 1 next year. The licencees will have to register every complaint made by a consumer telephonically, electronically or in writing on failure/interruption in supply, defects in meter and bill payments. If a consumer is not provided services in the time period specified in the notification, he may submit a compensation claim with the nodal officer of the Dispute Settlement Committee (DSC). If dissatisfied, he can further pursue the claim with the ‘Forum for Redressal of Grievances of Consumers’. The compensation will be paid by way of adjustment in the power bills of the succeeding months.
Fine-tuned
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Candlelight march in support of teachers
Gidderbaha, December 7 The march was led by Vinu Badal and Jaijeet Singh ‘Jojo’. Vinu Badal said: “The use of brutal force on the agitating EGS teachers is shameful.” Instead of thrashing the teachers, the government should find an amicable solution to their problems, she added. — TNS
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Stay on bus permits to remain, says HC
Chandigarh, December 7 Another interim order staying the extensions of permits and increase in trips would also continue. The directions by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Surya Kant came on a petition by Amritsar resident Bikramjit Singh through counsel Parminder Pal Singh Thethi. The Bench also directed the State of Punjab and other respondents to file a reply to the application seeking directions to the Regional Transport Authority not to hold a meeting to extend the permits and increase the return trips. The case will now come up for further hearing on February 8, 2012. In his petition, Bikramjit Singh asserted: “The respondents have been issuing permits in contravention of the scheme for rendering transport services in the State of Punjab by diluting the share of the STU in favour of 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 great risk”. Elaborating, the petitioner contended the State of Punjab, in accordance with the Motor Vehicle Act, had notified a scheme for rendering transport services in the state vide notification dated August, 9, 1990, under which all inter-state and monopoly routes were to be operated by the STUs. 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”.
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Conspiracy to kill Dera Sacha Sauda chief Aman Sood Tribune News Service
Patiala, December 7 For this simple 26-year-old village woman, the past three years have been the most horrifying days of her life. Gurpreet Kaur (claimed to be Gobind Kaur by the police), was alleged to be a human bomb and was implicated in a case of trying to kill the dera chief. “Life will never be the same for me as my married life and my reputation have suffered damage beyond repair,” she said, adding the she was, however, lucky that her family always stood by her side in the hour of need. Fellow villagers recall Gurpreet Kaur as a typical village girl, who grew up in the village and post-marriage ran a beauty parlour in Samana, when some policemen arrested her in October 2008. "They searched her house and later took her along and the next day, newspapers carried stories that she was a human bomb and was conspiring to kill the dera chief," they said. Gurpreet says, “My name in the FIR was wrongly mentioned as Gobind Kaur. My certificates and marriage documents confirmed in the court that I am Gurpreet Kaur”. “I am a married woman and a mother of two. I would never do such a thing as was claimed by the police," she said. "My only mistake was that I went to Dera Sacha Sauda a few years ago with my friends," she said. SK Asthana, the then Patiala SSP, had accepted in a press conference in 2008, that though they had failed to recover anything from the accused, including Bakhshish Singh and Bagicha Singh, "the police believes that Gobind Kaur is a trained human bomb". The case was the much talked about issue ahead of the parliamentary elections with the Opposition alleging that the police had slapped the case to help the government get support of Dera Sacha Sauda ahead of the elections. Investigating officer in this case Shaminder Singh told TNS that all private witnesses turned hostile. "The case was genuine, but the witnesses turned hostile and did not support our records," he added.
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Senior leaders who have lost their constituencies and applied for new constituencies include Surjit Dhiman from Sunam (his constituency Dirba has been reserved); former minister Jasjit Randhawa from Amloh (his earlier constituency was Ghanaur), and former Adampur legislator Kanwaljit Lalli from Jalandhar Cantonment.
New Delhi, December 7