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Name those threatening you, minister to DGP
Jail staff not promoted for years
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Staff shortage a major problem in Ludhiana jail
Escorting undertrials to court a tricky business
Capt: State headless with CM abroad
Morcha expects 18% vote share: Manpreet Badal
A policeman outside a strongroom at Dera Bassi
Beeping voting machine switched off, data safe
Indecent Punjabi songs and videos
Hoshiarpur DC’s kin caught levelling hillock
Partially levelled hillock at Kurian village in Mohali district. A Tribune photo
Diversification bears fruit for these farmers
Purchase vaccine from user charges, SMOs told
Ex-GNDU prof bags Sahitya Akademi prize for translation
PowerCom told to set up village committees to check pilferage
Gidderbaha court complex
Amritsar's Town Hall to house museum, HC told
Act against convicted cops: HC
Tipsy cop shoots DJ dead in Tarn Taran
Valentine's
Day
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Jail staff not promoted for years
What’s bugging jail staff
Patiala, February 15 Of the total 2,000 staffers in the department, hundreds have retired while 10 to 15 per cent are always on leave at one time or the other. There has been no recruitment at the junior level while others are awaiting promotions for the past over five years.
Following tough working conditions and low pay scales, out of the total 24 deputy superintendents selected recently, only nine joined and the rest did not turn up despite repeated reminders. Despite tough working conditions and limited scope of growth, the pay scale of a DSP (Jail) is roughly Rs 8,000 less then a DSP of the Police Department. Further, the department lacks sophisticated weapons and is still in possession of the age-old Musket rifles. "We do not have a government-allotted vehicle and for travelling to other district jails and other places we have to rely on a personal vehicle," claimed a senior superintendent. "Even managing a driver and a gunman from the already limited force is difficult while travelling," he added. Interestingly, despite odds, the jail wing has performed well with only 14 cases of inmates escaping in 2010, seven in 2011 and four in 2012 till last month as compared to the Police Department from whose custody an average of three convicts escape every month. In 2009, 54 undertrials escaped from the police custody. In 2010, more than 37 managed to dodge policemen during hearings. "However, we have started videoconferencing inside jails so that inmates involved in petty crimes not to be taken to courts for hearings every now and then and only those involved in heinous crimes are taken out," said Rajan Kapoor, Additional Superintendent, Central Jail, Patiala. Shashi Kant, Punjab DGP (Jails), told The Tribune that he had forwarded a proposal for allotting new vehicles and weapons to the jail staff. "We would soon hold a departmental promotion committee meeting to clear pending promotion cases and ensure more recruitments on a regular basis," he added. Kant further said he would also take up the matter of low salaries of his staff and ensure that they get their due.
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Staff shortage a major problem in Ludhiana jail
Ludhiana, February 15 However, videoconferencing has come as a major relief for the authorities and only those persons are taken to the courts whose challans are presented before the magistrate. A former superintendent of the Central Jail said, "Criminals involved in groupism or gangwars create ruckus and cause lot of trouble for the authorities. While shifting them from one jail to another or taking them to the courts, they indulge in fights and officials have to face tough times," he said. Another jail official, wishing not to be quoted, said taking criminals from one place to another was the job of the city police. "Undertrails are accompanied by police personnel to courts, but due to staff crunch, we do not get adequate personnel and undertrails take advantage of it and escape from the police custody," said the official. "Three-four days ago, an undertrail escaped from a hospital where he was being treated for an ailment. Though such incidents are rare, the law punishes the officials, too, who accompany the undertrail under section 223/224 of the IPC. Despite writing to the district police for
several times, we are not getting sufficient number of personnel from it," said the official. Police Commissioner Ishwar Chander said the district police provided sufficient force to the jail officials as and when required. Moreover, the jail authorities never raised the issue with them, he added.
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Escorting undertrials to court a tricky business Amritsar, February 15 A day after six undertrials escaped from the district court complex, three of them later re-arrested, a close watch on the procedure being adopted to bring undertrials to the court exposed several loopholes which call for immediate
attention.
More than 100 inmates are ferried daily to the court. The district police has only two vehicles, having a capacity of 20 seats each, fabricated as per requisite standards for escorting the inmates. To meet the requirement, the Police Department is left with no option but to press into service their school buses, staff buses or discarded escort vehicles. The situation is so grim that many times the police personnel have to hire auto-rickshaws or even use their own two-wheelers to take inmates to courts. Today, around 105 inmates from the jail were brought to the court in two buses and an auto-rickshaw. One bus (PB-02 D 9733) is a discarded vehicle with a partially covered soft roof, broken door and windows. Another bus (PB-02 S 9980) which carried over 50 inmates is actually a staff bus meant to take staff members to Phillaur for training purposes. Both these vehicles do not have window grills. The policemen who brought an inmate in an auto-rickshaw said, "Since we had to produce the accused in court on time, we could not afford to wait for the second round of the official vehicle. Many time, we use our scooters to reach on time because ultimately the onus lies on us". Another glaring fact is that policemen attached with the inmates become friendly with them and let them meet their near and dear ones present in the court complex. This is the time when any undesirable article can be handed over to the inmates without any hitch. Admitting these shortcomings, Police Commissioner RP Mittal said yesterday's incident was an eye-opener and efforts would be initiated to revamp the mechanism of escorting jail inmates. "A detailed report of deficient infrastructure will be communicated to the police headquarters in Chandigarh. Yesterday's incident was a result of negligence of our staff. Even as there are proper guidelines for the staff while escorting the
undertrials, these are being grossly violated," he said. Ludhiana: Taking undertrials to the courts has never been an easy task for the jail authorities, especially in a city like Ludhiana where there are over 2,600 undertrials and criminals lodged in the Central Jail. However, videoconferencing has come as a major relief for the authorities and only those persons are taken to the courts whose challans are presented before the magistrate. A former superintendent of the Central Jail said, "Criminals involved in groupism or gang wars create ruckus and cause lot of trouble for the authorities. While shifting them from one jail to another or taking them to the courts, they indulge in fights and officials have to face tough times," he said. Another jail official said taking criminals from one place to another was the job of the city police.
"Undertrials are accompanied by policemen to courts, but due to staff crunch we do not get adequate personnel and undertrials take advantage of it and escape from police custody," said the official. "Three-four days ago, an undertrial escaped from a hospital where he was being treated for an ailment. Though such incidents are rare, the law punishes the officials, too, who accompany the undertrial under section 223/224 of the
IPC. Despite writing to the district police for several times, we are not getting sufficient number of personnel from it," said the official. Police Commissioner Ishwar Chander said the district police provided sufficient force to the jail officials as and when required. Moreover, the jail authorities never raised the issue with them, he added. — Shivani Bhakoo
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Capt: State headless with CM abroad
Chandigarh, February 15 In a statement issued here, Capt Amarinder said both the Badals had left for their foreign trip without nominating any minister who should be heading the government. He said this was extremely irresponsible on their part. "The state is virtually headless today and if there is an emergency, who should be responsible?" he said. This is a classic case of somebody abdicating his authority without bothering about his responsibilities, he added.
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Morcha expects 18% vote share: Manpreet Badal
Ludhiana, February 15 Emphasising that he had no ill-will towards any political party, he said: “Our party will assess what our strength is and how the other parties have fared. But whatever decision the Sanjha Morcha takes will be in the interest of the people. It will not be a politically motivated decision.” Manpreet was in Khanna today. He said the Sanjha Morcha had deliberately fielded candidates with a clean image and with no political background. However, most candidates were leaders in their own field.” He said the average age of Morcha candidates would have been under 45 had his 82-year-old father Gurdas Badal not been a candidate.
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EC: Upgrade security at strongrooms with EVMs
Moga, February 15 Dalip K Verma, Under Secretary, EC, has said one key of the strongroom should be with the district election officer and the other with the returning officer of the assembly constituency concerned. He has sought a two-cordon security system for strongrooms round the clock with central para-military personnel manning the innermost security ring outside the strongrooms and armed police forming the outermost ring. For the first time, the EC has asked the district magistrates to intimate in writing to the candidates to depute their representatives to keep a watch on the security arrangements. “They should be allowed to stay outside the inner perimeter at a location which enables them to view the entry points to the strongroom. As far as possible, facilities such as drinking water may be provided to them,” Verma has said. He has instructed that in case of no direct view to the strongroom, CCTV cameras may be arranged and representatives “taken periodically to the inner perimeter in batches to see the strongroom security for themselves . Further, a control room adjacent to the strong room should be operative round the clock and a gazetted officer along with a police officer be put on duty for monitoring the arrangements.” Verma has also instructed that fire extinguishers be installed inside the strongrooms. The ROs have been asked to visit the storage site (up to the inner perimeter), check the log book and video images and send a report to the district election officer everyday. In case of strongrooms located at the district headquarters, the district election officers will do this job. No vehicle, including that of any official or minister, will be allowed inside the campus where the EVMs are stored. As per the EC instructions, the district magistrates and SSPs will be personally responsible for the security of the
strongrooms.
Taking No Chances...
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Beeping voting machine switched off, data safe
Jalandhar, February 15 The EVM had generated considerable curiosity among the candidates and officials as it was found beeping at around 5 am by the BSF personnel guarding the EVMs stored in the Government Veterinary Polyclinic at the Ladowali Road on Tuesday. The strongroom, where the EVM was stored, was opened in the presence of District Electoral Officer Priyank Bharti, returning officer Jaskaran Singh, Congress candidate Jagbir Brar, Congress Campaign Committee chairman Manoj Arora, Romi Sanga - a representative of SAD candidate Pargat Singh, PD Shant - husband of BSP candidate Hardev Kaur Shant and Jaswinder Billa - a representative of PPP candidate Rajinder Singh Johal. The machine was quarantined and the ECI was informed by the DEO. Acting on the information of the DEO, the ECI dispatched Kulkarni, an engineer of the Delhi-based ECIL, who reached the venue at around 2 pm. Kulkarni inspected
the machine and switched it off. “The engineer has informed us that the data is protected. The EVM was beeping as the presiding officer might have forgotten to switch it off after the polling,” said Priyank. The machine contained as many as 362 votes which were polled at the booth, as per the record.
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Indecent Punjabi songs and videos
Patiala, February 15 A survey was carried out by the Manch in villages of Patiala, Jalandhar, Sangrur, Barnala and Nawanshahr districts of the state and prepared a list of singers who were allegedly using obscene language and making indecent remarks against women in their songs, he said while adding: "The top most names are Diljit Dosanjh, Geeta Zaildar, Gippy Grewal, Honey Singh and Miss Pooja. We then decided to express our anger because if we do not right now, things will soon spin out of control. As such, most of the videos these days lack morality." Talking about female singer Miss Pooja, she said it was shameful that being a woman she had recorded many songs which do not depict Punjabi women in good light. "Her plea that she has also sung religious songs does not give her a license to sing indecent songs. She has sung a few wonderful songs and therefore we want that she should stick to a high standard, added Amandeep. "Our sole aim of organising the protest is to convey the message to the entertainment industry that they cannot expect us to tolerate such indecent comments in the name of entertainment. We are totally against women being portrayed in a bad taste and have decided to raise our voice against each and every singer who indulges in this practice for popularity," added senior leaders of the Manch, Anita Sandhu and Gurbax Kaur.
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Hoshiarpur DC’s kin caught levelling hillock
Chandigarh, February 15 Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Baldev Singh said permission had been taken in the name of the DC’s mother, Mohinder Kaur, to fell 102 trees in over five acres of land. Felling is allowed on land covered under the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA) under a five-year felling programme. The DFO said instead of restricting themselves to felling the trees, for which permission had been taken, the DC’s family started levelling land in the area. He said after the violation was reported, a team visited the site and put a stop to the illegal activity. He said the tractor, which was being used for levelling, was not seized as those operating it had escaped from the scene. This is puzzling as the tractor as well as other machinery was present at the site when the Forest Department officials went to put an end to the levelling exercise. The Forest Department has confiscated Rs 11,200 deposited by Mohinder Kaur as security while taking a permit to conduct felling on her land. A case has been registered for violating Section 4 of the PLPA, 1900, against a relative of the DC, Ujjagar Singh. The case has been referred to the court. Dipinder Singh said the land belonged to his mother and relatives. He admitted that the land was being levelled recently. He said this was being done as part of the land was at a higher level and needed to be levelled to enable installation of underground pipes. Dipinder said he was not involved in the levelling process and the land did not contain any forest cover. He claimed that the land had been taken out of the PLPA. This, however, is contested by the Forest Department with the Ropar DFO maintaining that part of the land was covered under the PLPA. Despite assertions being made by the DC, photographs of the site are a typical example of how hillocks as well as forests are being obliterated by influential people. Forest officials said dense tree cover was standing on the PLPA land adjoining the area that was being levelled. They said it was unimaginable that there were no trees in the area, which had been partially levelled and was bereft of vegetation. The photographs also indicate that a complete hillock was being levelled and not a slight patch to facilitate installation of an underground drip water system.
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Diversification bears fruit for these farmers
The litchi orchard of Pathankot-based Parbhat Singh has proved to be economically remunerative for him. From a four-acre orchard with a few odd litchi plants in 1980 it is now a 20-acre orchard lush with litchi trees. “The litchi trees are not conventionally popular. But, with a few precautions like the use of wind-breakers around the orchards, these can grow well. Also, these trees are not water-intensive. They require water only after an interval of 10 days, depending on the soil,” he says. Apart from managing the litchi orchard, Parbhat Singh grows potato, sugarcane, green peas, wheat and mustard. His latest diversification venture is pecan nuts. “I’m experimenting with pecan nuts cultivation. I got some grafted plants from Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishav Vidyalaya in Palampur,” he says. Experimentation is also working well for Fazilka-based Surinder Kumar Ahuja. His 160-acre land has a variety of crops, including cotton, wheat, paddy and barley. He also grows guava, amla (Indian gooseberry), kinnow, phalsa. Plants like bael, swanjana, mentioned in traditional Indian recipes, are grown on a small scale. It’s sweet lime that’s on his agenda now. “Unlike kinnow, sweet lime does not require much water,” he says. He has had his share of difficulties. For instance, Fazilka, during the 1950s, was a heavily water-logged area. Both Parbhat Singh and Ahuja believe that the right approach alone nurtures the land that provides bountiful crop. “I don’t want to extract everything from the land without replenishing it,” observes Ahuja. A passion for farming, along with the willingness to take a calculated risk, is what keeps both these farmers on the “diversification” track.
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Purchase vaccine from user charges, SMOs told
The stray dog menace has become a headache for the authorities, with a sharp rise in the number of dog bite case in recent years. What is alarming is the fact that stray dogs have started attacking human beings. During the past one week, three persons have been reported to have been bitten to death by dogs — a mini bus operator at Pandori village near Amritsar, a nine-year-old girl near Mehatpur and a farmhand in Khamano. The Chief Secretary, SC Aggarwal, said: “ We are seized of the matter. There are legal impediments owing to which the state government cannot do much except for launching a dog sterilisation drive. But that also is not an
easy task”. About 16,000 cases of dog bite have been reported in Civil Hospitals across the state during the past year. There is no data on the number of cases reported in private hospitals. The Civil Hospitals charge Rs 100 per dose which otherwise costs Rs 300 in the market. The victims require at least three such doses. In some cases, up to five doses may be administered. Again there is no data on the number of patients getting the anti- rabies injections in private hospitals. Said Satish Chandra, Principal Secretary, Health: “I have instructed all the Senior Medical Officers to procure stocks of the anti-rabies vaccine from user charges”. He said another option was that tenders could be floated for bulk purchase of the vaccine for the entire year, but this process too could take some time. Earlier, the vaccine was prepared at a government laboratory. The production was terminated some years ago, it is learnt. Now the anti-rabies vaccine is manufactured by big private companies.
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Ex-GNDU prof bags Sahitya Akademi prize for translation
Amritsar, February 15 The prize comprises Rs 50,000 and a copper plaque, which would be presented to him at a function in August. Former head of School of Punjabi Studies at the GNDU, Dr Frank spent 10 years in the erstwhile USSR (1969-76 and 1988-1991) for translating literary works of Russian authors like Rasul Hamzatov, Boris Polevoi, Chingez Aitmatov, LN Tolstoy, Maxim Gorky, V Pannova, and Yuri
Lermontov. He also has four Punjabi books to his credit. He has also translated books based on the lives of Guru Nanak, Jawahar Lal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi. Born in 1935, he did his Ph D from Institute of Oriental Studies, Moscow, in 1975. He joined the GNDU as a professor in School of Punjabi Studies in 1979 and retired as head of the department in 1995. He is an expert in Punjabi, Hindi, English, Urdu and Russian languages.
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PowerCom told to set up village committees to check pilferage
Jalandhar, February 15 Romila Dubey, chairperson of the commission, who was in city to elicit the views of the public on the proposed electricity tariff for 2012-13, said almost 20 per cent of the power went waste at various channels. She said it was time the farmers got rid of their old power guzzling motors at their tubewells and opted for star-rated ones. To check power pilferage, Dubey advised PowerCom to constitute village and mohalla-level committees. The commission and PowerCom officials faced stiff opposition from farmers and industrialists during the interaction. Issues like power pilferage by bureaucrats, politicians, industrialists and religious institutions were also discussed. Resisting any hike in the power tariff and monthly charges, the industrialists demanded a uniform slab as in Himachal Pradesh and Haryana if industry in the state was to be saved. Representative of the cold store owners opposed the proposal, demanded exemption from peak load charges. PowerCom 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. Besides top officials of PowerCom, GS Ghuman and Virinder Singh, members of the commission, attended the function.
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Gidderbaha court complex
Chandigarh, February 15 As the case came up for hearing, the Bench went through Aggarwal's reply to the petition stating: "The matter has not been listed before the Building Committee, Punjab, due to the loss of the concerned file. As such, no information regarding this is available at present". The Bench was also informed that the construction work in as many as nine court complexes was in progress; and in a substantial number of cases work would be over by next year. Out of the total, nothing less than four judicial complexes would be ready this year only. The reply made it clear that the complexes to be constructed completely this year were Malout (March 31), Kapurthala (September 30), Pathankot (June 30), and Batala (March 31). The construction would be complete next year in Tarn Taran (December), Gurdaspur (June 30) and Sardulgarh (June). The Bench was also informed that Faridkot court complex was under renovation as it was a heritage building and in Ferozepur the construction work had commenced. The Bench was also told that land was in the process of being acquired at as many as eight places for the construction of judicial court complexes. The areas are: Patti, Ajnala, Baba Bakala, Moga, Fazilka and
Mohali. The Division Bench is currently looking at the issue of construction of judicial complexes in the State as it is hearing a petition filed in the matter by Sohan Singh
Sanghera.
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Amritsar's Town Hall to house museum, HC told
Chandigarh, February 15 All this and much more was told to the Punjab and Haryana High Court during the hearing of a petition by Amritsar-based National Welfare Society. In its petition, the Society had sought the quashing of the Municipal Corporation's resolution dated February 5, 2010, and agreement dated May 12-13, 2010. The petitioner had contended that the "resolution and agreement reflect a decision with regard to the shifting of the office of the Municipal Corporation from the Town Hall and to convert it, after renovation, into a heritage hotel. Opposing the alleged proposed move, the petitioner had added: "The Town Hall was a historic building with all its splendour and glory and needs to be preserved as such". Taking up the matter, the Bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Mahesh Grover observed the Municipal Corporation's precise stand was: "The Municipal Corporation has signed the MoU with Punjab Heritage Tourism Promotion Board for shifting the offices of Municipal Corporation to an alternative location and the cost of the construction of new building shall be borne by the Government." "Further, the conservation and re-use of the Town Hall is being undertaken by the Board…. It has been informed that the final decision to re-use the building, after its conservation, is still pending but the option of converting it into a commercial hotel is not under consideration." "It was further informed that it is, however, proposed to create facilities like city museum, library, archives, tourist office and boutiques for sale of Punjab handicrafts in the complex and these facilities will ensure that the beauty and historical value of the building is enhanced." The Bench concluded: The Town Hall needs repair and renovation because of its age (143 years) and after the same is complete, the services that will be provided have been set out in the written statement." "There is a categorical denial that there is any move to convert the Town Hall into a hotel, after completion of the renovation work. In such circumstances, the grievances raised by the writ petitioner in this public interest litigation stand self-answered by the stand taken by the Municipal Corporation…. We, therefore, close this public interest litigation in terms of the stand taken by the Corporation in its written statement."
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Act against convicted cops: HC
Chandigarh, February 15 He referred to cases of constables Lal Chand and Sher Singh, head constable Gurlabh Singh and ASI Ramesh Chander that were “under active consideration” of the state government. The Bench issued instructions after taking note of a 2010 Supreme Court judgment in the Sushil Kumar Singhal case, wherein it was held that despite release on probation under the Probation of Offenders Act, the conviction remained intact. The Bench directed the Punjab Government to take action in such cases, in accordance with law laid down by the SC, within four weeks and to submit a status report at the next hearing on March 28.
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Tipsy cop shoots DJ dead in Tarn Taran
Tarn Taran, February 15 The police sources said the accused was in an inebriated condition and fired three shots while dancing. One of the shots hit Balveer. The cop allegedly used his service revolver in the incident. A case under Section 304 of the IPC has been registered against him at the Bhikhiwind police station, while a manhunt has been launched to arrest him. Balveer had come here along with a Nakoder-based cultural group which was invited by the bridegroom Jaimal Singh’s family for performing at the marriage. District police chief Manminder Singh said strict action would be taken against the accused cop. He said the cop was suspended immediately.
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Valentine's
Day
Patiala, February 15 Police said that the accused have been identified as Harish Singla and Jaipal
Garg, who were accompanied by other activists, including women, who raided public parks and other places and thrashed innocent couples sitting there without any reason in the name of morale policing. A case under Sections 323, 341, 354, 506 and 149 of the IPC has been
registered against the accused.
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Ludhiana, February 15
alandhar, February 15
Chandigarh, February 15
Dr Gurbax Singh Frank, a retired professor of Guru Nanak Dev University
(GNDU), has been awarded the Sahitya Akademi Prize for Translation for his book,
'Bharat Nikki Kahani', an anthology of short stories of various languages. The prize comprises Rs 50,000 and a copper plaque, which would be presented to him at a function in August. Former head of School of Punjabi Studies at the
GNDU, Dr Frank spent 10 years in the erstwhile USSR (1969-76 and 1988-1991) for translating literary works of Russian authors like Rasul
Hamzatov, Boris Polevoi, Chingez Aitmatov, LN Tolstoy, Maxim Gorky, V Pannova, and Yuri
Lermontov.
Power commission wants farmers to use star-rated motors
Patiala, February 15
Ludhiana, February 15
Chandigarh, February 15