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Facing threat from drug mafia: DGP (Jails)
SGPC to take legal recourse if ’84 convict’s life term waived
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Stay
on DSGMC polls
Residents also to blame, say officials
Pandori man not bitten to death: SPCA
Gurdaspur
Jailbreak
Youth shot dead outside SSP’s office in
Moga
Dual Murder
Farmers, industrialists oppose power tariff hike
Fastway tries to distance itself from Sukhbir
20 govt school students to get free IIT coaching
Punjab Civil Services
exams-2009
4 of robbers’ gang held
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Facing threat from drug mafia: DGP (Jails)
Patiala, February 14 “Perturbed over my initiative against the drug racket, a certain influential lobby is exerting pressurise on me to give up the drive,” he said. When questioned if knew the culprits, Kant said, “They are certainly not from the Police Department, but I will definitely expose them soon as sealing the drug route will come as an economic setback for them.” Sources in the jail wing confirmed that certain high-profile criminals having links with politicians were behind the drug racket. “You make jails an autonomous body and see positive changes as the criminal-politician nexus is behind the rot and you can get their (politicians) phone records scrutinised to know the truth," the sources said. Kant, who took charge as the DGP (Jails) four months ago and has been continuously touring the jails, said the drug menace had been unabated since the past several years. "I cannot say, but it is obvious that they (culprits) suffered a setback as the drug route has been sealed. But a threat is there," he said.
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SGPC to take legal recourse if ’84 convict’s
SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar said, “It is sheer injustice to the Sikhs. First, the courts commuted his death sentence to life term and now the government is letting him off.” He alleged the government was adopting double standards for the Sikhs. “On the one hand, it (the government) is not commuting the death sentence of Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar despite the fact that there are no witnesses in his case. On the other hand, it is commuting the term of a person who has been convicted by the courts." While the SGPC is weighing legal options, DSGMC chief Paramjit Singh Sarna claimed, “We have persuaded the Delhi government not to implement the orders of commuting Lal’s life sentence. The breakthrough came after we raised the matter with the Delhi Lieutenant-Governor.” Apart from the SGPC and the DSGMC, other Sikh outfits too have come out against the decision. The All-India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF) is gearing up to file a PIL challenging the commutation of Lal's life term. AISSF president Karnail Singh Peermohammed dubbed the move as a "well-planned conspiracy". He said they would also take out a "Justice Rally" against the L-G's decision in New Delhi on February 16. Radical Sikh outfit Dal Khalsa leader Kanwar Pal Singh said, "Instead of prosecuting the high and mighty conspirators, the state is letting off the convicts of riot cases." A former butcher based in Trilokpuri, Lal was sentenced to death seven times by lower courts. However, the Supreme Court commuted them to life terms later. Lal was among 25 people convicted by courts for offences connected to the 1984 riots and has spent around 16 years in jail. Delhi L-G Tejendra Khanna had recently commuted his life sentence on the recommendation of the state's Sentence Review Board.
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Stay
on DSGMC polls
Amritsar, February 14 According to sources, the government may move the court over the issue this week. The Delhi High Court had on February 7 granted a stay on the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee elections, following a petition filed by Harmohan Singh. “Without the delimitation of wards and until the list of voters are completed, the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee elections will cause unfair representation from each ward in the national capital,” the petitioner had said. Talking to The Tribune, Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee chief Paramjit Singh Sarna said though he had taken up the matter with the Delhi government, he had not yet heard any official word on its future course over the issue. He, however, said the stay would lead to a delay of at least one year in the elections. “Firstly, the preparation of voter lists as per the court order will take at least three months. The delimitation process will also take a lot of time. Moreover, there is also a talk of giving 10 per cent reservation to women. All this will consume considerable time. Already the elections are late by a year,” he added. Sarna hoped that if the appeal was filed within a week and the stay got vacated, the elections could still be held, although a little later than the date that was scheduled earlier.
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Residents also to blame, say officials
Mohali, February 14 Although efforts are on to control the stray dog population through sterilisation, officials say in view of the High Court’s directions, the animals cannot be killed. In case of complaints, the MC merely traps the dogs and releases them in another part of the town. However, dogs suffering from injuries are left with the People for Animals in Chandigarh. The problem becomes acute with residents feeding the dogs in their vicinity, without actually keeping them as pets, objecting to civic body teams catching the stray dogs. There are no bylaws in force relating to the registration of dogs in the town. Such laws were framed in 2008 and sent for notification, but the civic body is yet to be intimated in this regard. On an average, 10 to 15 dogs are caught in Mohali every month for sterilisation. The figure goes up when special campaigns are launched. An eight-member official team managed to get 129 dogs sterilised last year. The sterilisation programme is suspended for four months during the winter and rainy seasons. According to an estimate, there are at least 1,500 stray dogs in the town. The executive officer of the civic body, Jagjit Singh Shahi, said an expenditure estimate of Rs 1 lakh for sterilisation had been sent for approval about a month ago. He said sterilisation was done by a team of veterinary doctors every Friday. The dogs were kept under observation for a week post-operation. Dr Rajiv Bhalla, SMO, Civil Hospital, said on an average the hospital got 30 to 35 dog bite cases from the town and neighbouring areas every month, but none appeared serious. He said the hospital had adequate stocks of the anti-rabies vaccine.
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Panchkula Pet Clinic lends helping hand
Panchkula, February 14 To deal with the menace, the Panchkula MC had tied up with the Sector 3-based Government Pet Clinic for sterilising stray dogs. In the past one year, the clinic has sterilised 500 dogs. Dr MR Singla of the Pet Clinic said since November, no stray dog had been brought to the clinic for sterilisation. MC Executive Officer OP Sihag said there was some dispute with the contractor who caught the dogs but the matter would be resolve soon. The Government Hospital in Panchkula gets 10 cases of dog bite every month. A campaign under which the MC was to give Rs 500 to any resident who caught stray dogs received no response and was done away with.
— TNS
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Pandori man not bitten to death: SPCA
Amritsar, February 14 The investigating team comprising Mukesh Sharma, Sahej Gulati and Nitesh Singla, visited Pandori village on February 11. After examining the spot of the incident and talking to residents who had spotted the body, the SPCA team concluded that Subeg was murdered with his neck chopped off. His body was mauled by stray dogs later. The team will submit the report to the higher authorities for further probe. The SPCA’s findings have compelled the police to re-investigate the case. Kamlesh Chand, SHO, Chattiwind police post, said nearly half of the body was mutilated when spotted by residents. “We are waiting for the postmortem report. We have learnt that the victim was a drug addict and he could have died due to a drug overdose that generally leads to a heart attack. We are working on various theories”, he said.
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Beeping EVM creates alarm
Jalandhar, February 14 BSF personnel guarding the strongroom heard the beep around 5 am. They informed their superiors who in turn sounded the DC-cum-District Electoral Officer Priyank Bharti. Bharti asked Returning Officer Jaskaran Singh to look into the matter who rushed to the spot. By then, SAD candidate Pargat Singh, Manoj Arora, representative of Congress candidate Jagbir Brar, BSP candidate Hardev Kaur Shant, PPP candidate Baba Rajinder Singh Johal and Independent candidates had collected there. The polyclinic strongroom was opened in the presence of the candidates as directed by the Election Commission. It appeared that the beeping sound was coming from the control unit of the EVM containing votes (380 in all) polled at Booth No. 80 of Bagri Mohalla. “We have apprised the EC which will take a decision on the matter,” said Bharti when asked about the
possibility of repolling at the booth. Sources said the snag in the control unit of the EVM could be possibly rectified by experts.
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Gurdaspur
Jailbreak
Gurdaspur, February 14 Two jail wardens, Gurnam Singh and Raja Singh, and three guards, Balkar Singh, Narpat Ram and Darbara Singh, have been suspended. The IG (Prisons) will probe the incident. The escape by the duo, Sunil Kumar and Sandeep Kumar, both residents of Pathankot, has raised a question mark on the security measures in the jail. Jail Superintendent Shammi Kumar expressed concern over the shortage of staff. “As against the sanctioned strength of 750 inmates, the jail has nearly 1,200 prisoners. Moreover, there are just 70 security personnel and out of them, as many as 30 remain on leave at one time or the other”. Another problem being faced by the authorities was unionism by the jail staff, he said, adding that the employees, who had political backing, refused to take responsibility.
Six undertrials flee, 3 re-arrested
Amritsar: Three of the six Amritsar Central Jail inmates, who escaped from the District Courts complex here, were re-arrested later in the day. Inspector Manjit Singh and constable Jarnail Singh, who escorted them to court, have been suspended. The Station House Officer, Civil Lines, Sukhwinder Singh, said an FIR under Sections 223 and 224 had been registered against the policemen for negligence of duty. He said one of the undertrails who had fled faced charges under the NDPS Act.
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Youth shot dead outside SSP’s office in
Moga
Moga, February 14 The deceased has been identified as Gurjant Singh, son of Bant Singh of the local Indira Colony. The SHO of city police station said as per preliminary findings, at least four youths carrying automatic fire weapons attacked Gurjant when he was coming out of the factory. Two bullets hit Gurjant on the back. He was rushed to the district hospital by his colleagues where he succumbed to his injuries. Gurjant’s brother Sukhmander Singh told the police that they had no enmity with anybody. This is the second murder reported in the past 24 hours in this city. Earlier, a man was allegedly murdered by his cousin who hit his head against a wall on Sunday night. The police said the accused was also helped by his wife and son. A case has been registered against Bakhtaur Singh, his wife Sukhwinder Kaur and son Harjit Singh. Preliminary investigation revealed that the deceased, Guljar Singh, had argued with Bakhtaur a couple of weeks ago, which eventually led to his murder.
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Dual
Murder
Ludhiana, February 14 Sources said Dhillon inspected the farmhouse on Hambran Road where DSP Balraj Singh Gill and a woman identified as Monika Kapila were brutally done to death on February 1 by unidentified persons. Dhillon also met with relatives of the deceased. The ADGP said that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the police was working on all theories to crack the case, as it had become a challenge for them. He also assured family members of the deceased that all efforts would be made to nab the culprits. A police official said that the ADGP also inspected the vehicles of the victims, which were taken away by the killers but dumped after four days.
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Farmers, industrialists oppose power tariff hike
Chandigarh, February 14 In its petition, the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited has projected a gap of Rs 8,983 crore in the aggregate revenue requirement for 2012-13. To bridge this gap, it has sought to increase the power tariff by 55 per cent. Representatives of farmers told the authorities that there was a need to bring down line losses and check power theft, which would lead to higher revenue and there would be no need to increase the tariff. BKU (Sidhupur group) leader Surinder Singh Lohari said the corporation was in the red because of heavy line losses and power theft. He said the government should replace the existing power motors installed at the tubewells with efficient ones free of cost which would help reduce power consumption by 33 per cent. Farmers opposed the suggestion of withdrawing free power to them. “We grow the food for the nation. The prices of the wheat and paddy are fixed by the government. We are never given remunerative prices,” said Pishora Singh Sidhupur, BKU leader. Industrialists said there should be no further increase in tariff for the industry, which was already suffering heavy losses in the state. Industrialists urged to eliminate the cross subsidy, the burden of which was being borne by the industry. They argued that the tariff for the industry was kept high due to subsidised tariff for farm sector and poor sections of the society. They said the commission should work out the cost of power supply for different category of consumers.
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Fastway tries to distance itself from Sukhbir
Jalandhar, February 14 "Sukhbir Badal has no stake in the network or the company in any form. We are also not closing down our network in near future," he said. Gurdeep also tried to ward off the allegations that his cable company had taken a particular Chandigarh-based news channel off air.
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20 govt school students to get free IIT coaching
Patiala, February 14 A total 20 students, five each from Class VIII to XI, from the district would be selected for coaching with the Red Cross Society paying for lodging and boarding of the students. State awardee teacher Jaswinder Singh Kalwanu, who is also the project coordinator, said that Rohit Bishnoi from iQuest took up the proposal with the district administration which helped him get in touch with the District Education Office. "After listening to his proposal, the department readily agreed because it would be of immense help for intelligent students. We sought the lists of students from all government schools and were overwhelmed to see the response. We have received more than 1,000 entries and will now hold an entrance test tomorrow to select the final 20 students who will be given the coaching," he added. About the exam, he said keeping in mind the fact that government school students might face certain difficulties in taking the exam in the English language, the exam would instead be conducted in Punjabi language. "Coaching will begin from April 2012 to March next year. During this period, they will also be given special classes in English by the Education Department on school campus itself so that they can get over their fear of English," added Jaswinder Singh. DEO (Secondary) Parmod Kumar said the project would provide an opportunity to students from economically weaker sections to fulfill their dream. "Many talented students cannot afford to take IIT coaching because the fee for these courses is nearly Rs 1 lakh. It is a great initiative and therefore we have collaborated with them to promote talent," added the
DEO.
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Punjab
Civil Services exams-2009
Patiala, February 14 A section of the candidates, who are working in different governments departments and have taken leave for preparations, said the delay was affecting them adversely. However, the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) has put up a note on its website, which reads, "The answer sheets of the Punjab State Civil Services Combined Competitive Examination-2009 are being evaluated and the result will be compiled after the evaluation of the answer sheets." The PPSC initiated the recruitment process for the Punjab State Civil Services Combined Competitive Examination in 2009 after a gap of 11 years. After the preliminary examination, about 2,140 candidates were selected for the Mains exam, which was held in September and October last year. Preferring anonymity, some of the candidates said, "The examination process concluded on October 10, 2011. But even after four months the result is yet to be declared. What is worrying is that we have not been given any information by the PPSC on how long it will take to announce the result." Expressing similar views, candidates, who are in government jobs, said, "We have taken leave for the preparation of the examination and subsequently for appearing in the exams. The more time the Commission takes to announce the results, the more leave we would require, which is difficult." The examination is being conducted for recruiting 180 posts of PCS, PCS (Allied) and DSP in the state police. Talking to The Tribune, some PPSC functionaries said that candidates were unnecessarily making so much hue and cry. "Our entire emphasis is to ensure that the process of checking the papers is completely transparent. In order to ensure the same, the answer sheets of the respective papers are being checked by a panel of expert faculty under the strict vigil of CCTV cameras. With total of nine papers, there are about 18,000 answer sheets. Obviously it would take time to get them checked", remarked a PPSC official, while adding that at the moment it was not possible to announce the date of the result.
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4 of robbers’ gang held
Patiala, February 14 Patiala SSP DP Singh said the arrested persons have been identified as Satnam Singh and his namesake Satnam, both residents of Ajnauda Kalan village, Kulwinder Singh from Sangrur and Mitha Khan from Diwangarh. However, Gurjeet Singh escaped from the spot under the cover of darkness, he added. He said they were hatching a conspiracy to rob a doctor.
— TNS
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Mohali, February 14
Expressing concern over the rising number of HIV cases inside state jails following "inmates' inclination towards homosexuality", the DGP called for a stronger legislature to check the rising trend.
Amritsar, February 14