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EPIC cards compulsory
Jain begins campaigning in Moga
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Installation of flex hoardings ends after EC directive
‘Sanjha Morcha will impose state of emergency in education’
Residents of Kot Bhai village on cloud nine
flashback
2011
Bribery charge
Second Kabaddi World Cup
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EPIC cards compulsory
“Fearing that the ruling Akali leaders may take away the EPIC of staunch Congress supporters and workers days before the election day so that they cannot cast their vote in the absence of electoral cards, the Congress leaders are taking precautionary steps,” said Navdeep Singh, son of sitting Congress MLA Avtar Singh Brar from Faridkot today, while addressing a meeting of the Congress workers and supporters at Golewala village. “Giving your electoral cards to any unknown person for verification may deprive you of your voting right,” cautioned the Congress leaders to the party workers at the meeting. “The Akalis can go to any extent and even some government employees and police men can also lend a helping hand to the ruling party,” said Sukhwinder Singh Dhaliwal, a leader. “Earlier, besides the EPIC, the Election Commission allowed the use of voter's slip and any other photo ID cards. However, this election, the EPIC is compulsory. This time, the Election Commission has even issued directions to stop the practice of distributing the slips by the political parties outside the polling booth (with just the name and the part number, which helps the booth officials to find the name faster),” said Navdeep Singh Brar. In Faridkot, out of the total
3,88,102 voters, only 256 voters do not have their electoral photo identity card. “We are hopeful of providing these 256 EPIC also in the next two days,” assured Ravi Bhagat, District Electoral Officer (DEO). |
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Jain begins campaigning in Moga
Moga, January 1 On Saturday, he went to the nearby Baghelewala village where he addressed a nukkad sabha claiming that many families, who voted for the SAD candidate in the last elections, had now extended support to the Congress. Jain did not give a calculated speech on the occasion. Instead, he tried to touch the sentiments of the people sharing his experiences of the police atrocities he and his supporters had faced in the last five years during the Akali rule. Some of the families also shared their experiences of police atrocities that they faced at the behest of the local Akali leaders with Jain, who promised them that the false and fabricated cases registered against them would be withdrawn, if the Congress comes to power. While claiming that his opponent, former DGP Paramdeep Singh Gill, would badly lose in the elections, he said that false and fabricated cases had been registered against hundreds of people in the Moga assembly constituency during Gill's tenure as the DGP of the state. He said the crime graph had also increased during his tenure in the district. Therefore, the future of people was not secure in the hands of the former cop, who is more of a typical bureaucrat than a politician. Confident of his win, he said there was anti-incumbency prevailing against the SAD-BJP in the entire state. "The wave is in favour of the Congress and we would sweep the elections with a two-thirds majority," he further claimed. |
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Installation of flex hoardings ends after EC directive
But thanks to the Election Commission stern directions, the cities are relieved of such posters. After the removal of the hoardings, the city now looks spruced up. Earlier, the election time used to be beneficial for the printers and manufacturers of these hoardings but at present, they do not have any such order. Moreover, as mentioning the name of the printer on every political hoarding and poster has been made compulsory as per the directions of the Election Commission, the printers do not want to take any chances. To express their political loyalty in most flattering phrases, the use of flex boards, hoardings and banners is most common in Punjab. Congress, PPP or Akalis, none of the political parties in Punjab stands out as an exception when it comes to the show of gaudy posters. These flex boards were much in use and preferred for their cost-effectiveness and comparatively better printing quality. Be it Badal Sahib's birthday, Captain Amarinder's appointment as the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief, Baba Farid Mela or a visit of the senior leader to the area, there was a common trend of the local leaders placing king-size flex boards on the roadsides. At times, there is not only a competition among the political parties to put up more hoardings and boards but the political competitors within the party also leave nothing to chance to outshine the opponents using the hoardings. There are even many incidents of tearing of the hoardings and banners of the opponents as it happened during the last Maghi Mela. More than expressing their 'love' towards their leaders through the flex boards, the local leaders want to elevate their own political importance in the eyes of a common man. Terming the hoardings as a violation of the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, on August 25, the High Court directed the state government to file an affidavit with respect to the legality of these hoardings and the director (local bodies) asked the Municipal Committee to remove all the hoardings. Fearing a political backlash, the hoardings were not removed. However, now with the Election Comission directions and code of conduct coming into force, most of the posters and boards were removed. |
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‘Sanjha Morcha will impose state of emergency in education’
The father-son duo visited a few villages and addressed the public saying, “Once the Sanjha Morcha comes to power, education emergency would be imposed and more educational institutions would be opened after cutting the expenses of other government departments.” They also appealed to the voters that before casting their votes, they should keep in mind that which candidate would be easily accessible to them. |
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Residents of Kot Bhai village on cloud nine
Muktsar, January 1 While one Harpreet Singh, sitting MLA,
Malout, has been selected again as the party's candidate from Malout, the other, Pritam Singh, has also been fielded from Bhucho Mandi in Bathinda district. Now, it has to be seen whether this cloud nine feeling continues even after the results are announced on March 4, or it is a temporary phase. Irrespective of the result, the villagers are now terming it as a matter of pride as they have got this distinction compared to other villages of Punjab. |
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flashback
2011
Fazilka, December 1 Some important decisions could not take a practical shape. The Punjab Government, at the fag end of its tenure, had decided to reinstate the pension of the employees of the government-aided schools in July 2011. It also issued a notification in this regard. Director, Public Instructions (Secondary), asked the district education officers in November last year to send the cases of those teachers, who had retired after May 31, 2003 for scrutiny. Despite the fact that the government received the cases on time, it failed to restart the pension. “Due to lack of desire and callousness, the government allegedly did not release the pension,” alleged Raj Kishore Kalra, patron, Shiksha Sudhar Committee, an NGO. Besides, nearly 70 per cent posts of the Block Primary Education Officers (BPEO) in Punjab remained vacant last year as well. The Centre Head Teachers (CHT) were given the additional charge of BPEOs. Despite assurance, the government could not fill up the vacancies. As a result, the administrative functioning got adversely affected. Besides, 40 per cent posts of lecturers of different subjects in government senior secondary schools have been lying vacant for the last 4-5 years. The government failed to fill up the vacancies. In the absence of an effective transfer policy, political interference continued unabated in the transfers of the teachers and other employees. The year 2011 proved to be the year of agitations. The unemployed teachers had to resort to demonstrations, dharnas and hunger strike, while seeking employment. Kalra said that regularising the services of teaching fellows and teaching providers from April, 1, 2011, removing the anomalies in pay-scales and hike in the old-age pension of the teachers were the commendable decisions taken by the government during the previous year. |
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Bribery charge
Abohar, January 1 The Army authorities had reportedly taken Lalgarh cantonment Garrison Engineer Anudhya Rai in their custody under Section 125 of the Army Act but they were as of now unwilling to hand him over to the central investigating agency. If need be, he might be made available for interrogation, the authorities reportedly assured. Notably, the second CBI team led by inspector Ranveer Shekhawat had claimed that Rs 20,000 allegedly given as ‘bribe’ by the complainant Mukhpal Singh's partner was found at Anudhya Rai's table. The latter had refuted it. Preliminary investigation indicated that the MES engineers had reportedly threatened village Patli-based (Sadulshehar) contractor Mukhpal Singh that his business firms may be blacklisted, if he refuses to toe their line. He was reportedly asked to remove the ‘discrepancies’ that existed in his files relating to contracts worth Rs 75 lakh at Sadhuwali (Abohar-Sriganganagar road) and Lalgarh Jatan (Sriganganagar-Hanumangarh road) cantonment areas. Sources in the CBI said Mukhpal Singh's complaints were duly vetted and conversation with some officials was scrutinised before laying the trap. Raids revealed that the MES commander RK Bansal had earlier been residing at a rented bungalow in Jaipur while his brother occupies another house in New Delhi. Lockers owned by the Bansal family would be opened next week. Movable and immovable property worth Rs one crore has so far been unearthed. |
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Second Kabaddi World Cup
Bathinda, January 1 Bathinda as well as Jalandhar had played host to seven teams and organisers that participated in the Kabaddi World Cup. Even after two months, the hoteliers failed to get even a single penny spent on the players' food and stay. The president of the Bathinda Hotels, Restaurants and Resorts Association, Satish Arora threatened that if government does not release the payment soon, the hoteliers would have no other option but to come on roads to protest against the government for the delay in an election year. “We did not earn even a single penny from the event. Ideally, this should have been business time for us. But to express our solidarity with the state government for the promotion of kabaddi as a sport, we charged nominal rates,” he said. A total payment of Rs 1.40 crores of various hotels lies pending with the state government. Prominent hotels of the city include the Highway Inn, Sunciti Classic, Celebrations, Handi, Sun City, Comfort Inn, Krishna Continental, Bahia Hotel, Bahia Resorts, Sepal and others. Even during the first edition of the event in 2010, hotels were given payments four to five months after the event. Bitter over the experience, some of the owners were reluctant to give their hotels for the event this time, but budged under pressure from the ruling party and the district administration. “However, with the assembly elections less than 30 days away, we cannot take the risk of waiting for another few months. If the SAD-BJP government fails to come back to power, all our money would go down the drain,” added another hotelier. For a period of 20 days, these hotels had borne expenses ranging from Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 per person. Around nine rooms were booked for each team. Sources said that the delay in payment has put the district administration in a piquant situation. “The district administration depends on these businessmen for many works. Right from sponsoring different events to lending a helping hand, the traders (who are also hoteliers) prove to be helpful. With the delay in payment, the officials of the administration have little left to request for favour from these traders now,” the sources pointed out. They added that the district administration has no choice but to seek help during the coming Republic Day function on January 26. Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner KK Yadav accepted that the hoteliers'payments have indeed been delayed. “We have written to the government and a reply is awaited,” he added. |
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Faridkot, January 1
Faridkot, January 1
Lambi (Muktsar), January 1