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Several Cong leaders failed to deliver
Chappar Chiri turns into a mini secretariat
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‘It’s monumental gimmickry’
BJP courting Ludhiana’s Bains brothers
Badal writes to Amarinder on ‘vendetta’ cases
Lack of funds, infrastructure ail jail de-addiction centre
Karimpuri quits as BSP state chief
Civic amenities a far cry in Malerkotla
Liquor prices likely to go up
Staff shortage: Peons doubling as night watchmen in schools
Negligence claims newborn’s life
Medical fraternity flays attack on cardiologist
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Several Cong leaders failed to deliver
Chandigarh, March 12 As a result, the "please all" policy adopted by the Congress high command while distributing ticket came to a naught. After Amarinder, say sources, the lion's share of ticket went to former CM Rajinder Kaur Bhattal. She was a member of the scrutiny committee that arrived at a preliminary consensus on most of the seats. Bhattal, it is said, managed to get 10 ticket, including her own. Of these, only Rakesh Pandey and she herself won while the remaining eight, including her son-in-law Vikram Bajwa (from Sahnewal), lost.
The Amarinder camp feels Bhattal came in the way of making changes that could have benefitted the party. She is said to have opposed the shifting of senior leader Avtar Singh Brar from Faridkot to Kotkapura to field breakaway PPP leader Kushaldeep Dhillon from the seat. Sources said Amarinder also wanted to shift Bathinda (Urban) candidate Harminder Jassi to Maur, but Bhattal opposed it. Sources said Partap Singh Bajwa was able to get four seats for his supporters in Gurdaspur parliamentary constituency but could manage the victory of only his wife. Other leaders who could not ensure the victory of their kith and kin include Hoshiarpur MP Santosh Chaudhary, whose husband Ram Lubhaya lost from Sham Chaurasi; Jalandhar MP Mohinder Kaypee, whose wife Suman lost from Jalandhar (West) and former MP SS Dullo, whose wife Harbans Kaur lost from Bassi Pathana. However, Bhattal loyalists claim it is wrong to attribute 10 seats to her when most of those said to be in her quota belonged to legislators as well as senior leaders. They claim it is wrong to say someone like Rakesh Pandey, a four-time MLA, got the seat on Bhattal's persuasion. The Amarinder camp says the PCC chief wanted to make eight changes but could not have his way due to pressure from senior leaders. For their part, Capt's detractors say he still was left with around 100 seats to make good with, which he could not.
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Chappar Chiri turns into a mini secretariat
Mohali, March 12 Several national leaders were expected to attend the occasion at this historic place, Sukhbir Badal said. Asked if Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee would also make it, Sukhbir said he had been told that she would be sending her representative. He chose not to comment when asked whether the Congress high command had stopped Mamata from attending the ceremony. Asked as to when he would take over the reins of the state as Chief Minister, Sukhbir said his father was
“an institution in himself and we will benefit by serving the state under him.” Meanwhile, with a posse of officers of all the departments at the memorial site, Chappar Chiri has turned into a mini secretariat. Mohali’s Deputy Commissioner Varun Roojam, GPS Bhullar, Senior Superintendent of Police, SDM Amit Talwar and senior MC and GMADA officials were all there to greet Sukhbir Badal even as the common man suffered with none at the offices. “We have been camping here for the past four days. So don’t ask us what is going on in our offices,” said a senior official, pleading anonymity, as he pointed towards hundreds of vehicles with red and blue beacons parked at the monument site. “Many bureaucrats who have nothing to do with the preparations have turned up only to mark their presence here and appease the political bosses,” remarked a senior police officer. Sukhbir, who came in a chopper at 11am, was at the memorial site for more than two hours. He visited the ‘pandal’ and issued several instructions before leaving for Delhi to attend a
marriage.
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‘It’s monumental gimmickry’
Noted Sikh scholar Bhai Ashok Singh Bagrian said: “I don’t know what message the SAD wants to convey, but it seems a mere gimmick. Leave alone Sikh issues, the SAD didn’t even raise key Punjab issues like water, Chandigarh and the transfer of Punjabi-speaking areas. It is no longer a Panthic party.” He, however, praised Parkash Singh Badal for outplaying other political parties in the elections. Former SGPC secretary Manjit Singh Calcutta said: “The SAD is merely trying to please the Panthic vote bank. It projected a secular image during the elections by shunning the Panthic agenda and are now making up for it. ” Dal Khalsa leader Kanwar Pal Singh said the SAD had not abandoned its Panthic agenda, but had focused more on development during the elections. “The inauguration of various memorials and the Panth Rattan awarded to Badal ahead of the assembly poll proves that the SAD never turned its back on the Panthic agenda.” He said the SAD had devoted two pages in its poll manifesto to Panthic issues, touching almost all key points. “The SAD has chosen March 14 for the swearing-in, the first day of New Year as per the Nanakshahi Calendar,” he added.
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BJP decides on Bhagat, Mittal, Jiyani, Joshi for Badal team
Chandigarh, March 12 Sources said the BJP high command had taken a decision on the four ministerships today and that the same would be conveyed to the SAD leadership tomorrow. The party has agreed to reduce its quota by one on the basis of its strength in the assembly, which has gone down from 19 to 12. However, state BJP general secretary Kamal Sharma said he was yet to get official confirmation on the selection of the four ministers. Sources said the party had decided to give representation to all regions. While Chunni Lal represents Jalandhar district, Madan Mohan Mittal represents the old Hoshiarpur belt. They said Jyani was the choice from the Malwa region and Anil Joshi from Amritsar seat from where the party had fielded four candidates. According to party sources, the BJP may go in for making Anil Joshi its deputy leader. They said the party wanted to invest in the future and wanted to project an urban Hindu face to ensure further expansion in urban areas. If this happens, this would be a let-down for Mittal who was earlier tipped to head the legislature party on the basis of seniority. Mittal was a minister during the 1997-2002 SAD-BJP government and is a third time legislator. Another prominent leader who has been affected is former Local Bodies and Industries Minister Manoranjan Kalia. The party has refused to make him the legislature party leader or even a minister. This despite the fact that the person who replaced him during the fag end of the last government, Tikshan Sud, couldn’t secure his seat. Sources said rehabilitating Kalia fully would indicate that the party had erred earlier. The race is still on for the post of deputy leader. It is to be seen whether the party chooses a first timer or completes the quota system by giving it to one of its Sikh representatives - two-time legislator Amarjit Singh Sahi or fresher Dr Navjot Kaur
Sidhu.
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BJP courting Ludhiana’s Bains brothers
Ludhiana, March 12 A leading businessman from the city, who is close to BJP national president Nitin Gadkari, and a former BJP minister are mediating between the Bains brothers and Gadkari. A senior BJP leader said if the brothers joined the party, the BJP would get a Sikh face in Ludhiana. Interestingly, when senior BJP leader LK Advani visited the city in 2004, Simarjit Singh, then with the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), had shown black flags to the leader at his Jamalpur rally for “promoting Hindutva”. In 2009, he played a key role in holding a function where Advani was presented a siropa, a portrait of the Golden Temple and a sword at an NDA rally in the city. He had by then joined the SAD. A source close to the Bains brothers said the two were at loggerheads with former Cabinet Minister Hira Singh Gabria and wanted to be part of the government to clip his wings. When contacted, Simarjit Singh Bains said: “We have not decided on anything as yet.” The Bains brothers created a history of sorts by defeating SAD heavyweights. Balwinder Singh, an SGPC member, defeated Hakam Singh Giaspura by a margin of 32,232 from Ludhiana South and Simarjit Singh defeated Gabria by 28,498 votes from the Atam Nagar constituency.
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Badal writes to Amarinder on ‘vendetta’ cases
Chandigarh, March 12 Badal suggested that attaching details of sequence of events and concrete evidence, such as FIR number and nature of the incident in question, would help in addressing the complaints 'expeditiously and promptly.’ In a letter to the PPCC president in response to the latter's statement regarding false police cases being registered against Congress workers, Badal said that his government had never believed in vendetta and was fully committed to ensure justice to every citizen, regardless of their political persuasions.
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Lack of funds, infrastructure ail jail de-addiction centre
Amritsar, March 12 Jail Medical Officer Dr Manjit Singh said the shortage of medicines, to be issued by the government, coupled with the lack of infrastructure has aggravated the problem. He said repeated reminders to the department concerned evinced little success. “We have a list of over 200 inmates who have volunteered to undergo opiate substitution treatment. But we are helpless as it requires a proper infrastructure and trained staff for substance abuse diagnosis, which is not available. Secondly, substitute drugs like methadone or buprenorphine never reach jail hospitals as these are sold in the black market. A 10-tablet strip that normally costs around Rs 240 sells above Rs 320 outside,” Dr Manjit said. Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh, who now heads the Punjab Police Crime Branch, said, “Cutting the supply chain is a must if the drug menace has to be curbed. During my tenure, I primarily focused on notorious areas of the city like Anngarh, Maqboolpura, Gawal Mandi. This had put a cap on the attempts to sneak drugs into the jails, which ultimately reduced the demand. We also arranged health experts for the addicts.” For his part, the current DGP (Jails) Shashi Kant, too, has launched a tirade against the alleged drug mafia operational in state prisons. He has also initiated a drug-free programme in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime at Kapurthala jail. About the Amritsar centre, Kant said, “It was not a proper de-addiction centre as only a symptomatic treatment procedure was followed. The cure was based on examining drug withdrawal symptoms in patients like administering analgesics for pains, anti-emetics for nausea and vomiting, glucose infusion for dehydration or tranquilisers and sedatives for aggressive patients.” Regarding the “unabated” drug supply, he said the department was trying to identify areas, including Maqboolpura in Amritsar, from where the intoxicants were traded.
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‘Tackling corruption, drug menace a big challenge’
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Karimpuri quits as BSP state chief
Jalandhar, March 12 The party performed quite well on Phillaur, Nawanshahr, Balachaur, Adampur, Sham Chaurasi, Phagwara and Garhshankar seats. In Balachaur, BSP candidate Shiv Ram Chauhan came second having been polled 21,911 votes. Phillaur candidate Baldev Singh also got a significant 30 per cent share with 42,328 votes polled in his favour. Adampur candidate Sukhwinder Kotli too pocketed a vote share of 23.11 per cent, finishing close to the Congress runner-up. Karimpuri said that he offered his resignation to party supremo Mayawati at a meeting in Lucknow yesterday. A confirmation regarding its acceptance today came as a press note by the BSP national secretary, Narinder Kashyap. Asked about his decision, Karimpuri said that he was quite optimistic of getting some legislators of his party to the Vidhan Sabha. “The result may have improved, but I could not help the party achieve its target. Thus, I decided to quit,” he said.
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Civic amenities a far cry in Malerkotla
Malerkotla, March 12 Notably, Malerkotla has the maximum number of Muslims in the state. After representing the constituency as an MLA for two consecutive terms, Razia Sultana, wife of Punjab ADGP Mohammad Mustafa, lost the election to SAD's Farzana Alam, wife of former Punjab DGP and Punjab Wakf Board chairman Izhar Alam. Post poll results, The Tribune team went to different areas of the town to find out the problems being faced by residents. Stray cattle, dogs and garbage greet commuters at the local bus stand. With no boundary wall and cemented floor, the condition of the bus stand is deplorable. What is shocking is the fact that funds to the tune of Rs 1 crore were sanctioned by the Congress government (2002-07), but so far not even a single penny has been utilised. Officials of the Malerkotla Municipal Council refused to comment on the matter, but preferring anonymity some officers said, "During the Congress regime, the grant could not be utilised as it was decided to shift the bus stand on the outskirts of Malerkotla. However, the then authorities couldn't find the land required for the purpose. When the SAD-BJP alliance government
came to power in 2007, the project was pushed to backseat for political reasons, as Congress MLA Razia Sultana was representing the Malerkotla
constituency." Interacting with TNS, majority of the city residents rued that the problem of drinking water was troubling them from the past 10 years. "Till date, no one has bothered to redress the problem of water scarcity," said Vidya Rani, Sarita and Poonam, fetching water from a public hand-pump near the Delhi Gate. Enquiries brought to light that several areas including Bhumsi, Maler, Dashmesh Nagar and Naudharni Road were the worst affected due to water shortage. "Not only water scarcity, but the problem of contaminated water is also there. Due to inter-mixing of sewerage water with drinking water on account of decade-old water pipelines, people fall prey to water-borne diseases like gastroenteritis, cholera and diarrhea every year," said Mohammad Iqhtar, a resident of Naudharni Road. A visit to some other areas of the town was enough to expose the hollow claims of the civic authorities. In many areas, travelling is a bumpy ride on account of the pathetic condition of the roads. Except some of the posh areas and markets, there is hardly any metalled road in other parts of the city. Apart from this, the problem of the stray cattle and dogs is a virtual nightmare for the people. Despite the fact that there is dumping ground of the municipal council on the outskirts of the town, the contractor for the garbage collection dumps the
filth and other waste on vacant land backside the bus stand. "Not only foul smell, the threat of outbreak of epidemic looms large. The authorities must take action against the contractor and ensure that the entire waste of the city is dumped at the earmarked site only", demanded residents, while appealing the authorities to do something for the development of the city.
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Liquor prices likely to go up
There may be a marginal increase in the licence fee for Punjab Medium Liquor (PML) and Indian-Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL), the sources said. Excise and Taxation Commissioner A Venu Prasad said: “Some price rise is inevitable.” Data obtained from the Excise and Taxation Department shows the government earned a whopping Rs 2,372.02 crore from liquor sale in 2011 as compared to Rs 1570.30 crore in 2005-06. LA Khan, DETC (Distilleries), said: “For 2012-13, we have proposed a marginal hike in the number of vends and liquor quota, but the final decision will be taken by the government.”
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Staff shortage: Peons doubling as night watchmen in schools
Patiala, March 12 Over 2,000 posts of Class IV employees are lying vacant in high schools and senior secondary schools in the state. Besides, there are very few Class IV employees in around 3,000 middle schools. The last time the Education Department had recruited people directly on the post was in 1993. A few posts were filled on compassionate grounds. A peon of a local school said that he was doing multiple tasks. "After doing duty during school hours, I often have to stay back to guard goods and computers worth lakhs, as one cannot leave them unattended. My family is also suffering in the process as my wife has to manage the entire household work on her own," he added. Another employee said that in the process, they were often doing 24-hour duty and hardly get any rest. He said, "We have no weapons for our security and in case anyone attacks us, we will not be able to defend us. Moreover, in case of any theft, the entire onus will fall on is. If the department wants us to work round-the-clock, at least they should give us overtime incentives." A teacher said the government should fill the vacant posts for smooth functioning of schools. "We often have to ask students to do certain works which are against rules, but we are helpless," she added. DEO (Secondary) Parmod Kumar could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.
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Man electrocuted during film shooting
Patiala, March 12 Sources in the mortuary said that Sajinder Singh (40), who was working with the shooting team, got an electricity shock from high voltage wires. "He was rushed to the hospital, but was declared dead. His body was shifted to the mortuary but now, there is no one with his body who could explain what exactly happened there," he added. Hospital authorities said Vipul, who got minor burns, was discharged. "Son of Sardar" is starring Ajay Devgan, Sanjay Dutt, Juhi Chawla, Sonakshi Sinha and Vindu Dara Singh. While Sonakshi will share the screen with Ajay for the first time, Juhi and Sanjay will be seen together after a gap of 13 years, their last film was "Safari" in 1999.
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Negligence claims newborn’s life
Fatehgarh Sahib, March 12 He said that his wife Gurdeep Kaur had come to her parent's house at Bhamarsi Buland village in Fatehgarh Sahib to deliver the first child. He said that on Saturday night doctors got her admitted for delivery. At about 1.30 pm on Monday when his wife developed labour pains, they requested the lady doctor to come to attend her. But despite repeated requests, the doctor did not come and instead, continued to instruct the nurse on duty on mobile photo. He said the nursing staff informed that his wife had delivered a normal boy. But after some time nurses said that mother was recovering, but the baby was critical and asked us to take him to some private hospital. He said they took the child to Sandhu Nursing Home, where he was declared brought dead. Later, MLA Kuljeet Nagra along with villagers met the DC and brought the matter to his notice.
— OC
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Medical fraternity flays attack on cardiologist
Patiala, March 12 Dr OPS Kande, former state president of the IMA, and Dr BL Bhardwaj, president and Dr DS Bhullar, secretary, of the district unit of the Association, appealed to the Chief Minister-designate to direct the police authorities to trace the assailants and register a case of attempt to murder against them and also investigate the cause behind the attack. The IMA leaders demanded security for all doctors working in the state in general and leaders with threat perception in particular. "It is not for the first time that doctors have been attacked for one or the other reason, but no security has ever been provided to any doctor of the state. We are waiting for the directions from the state IMA leadership for further course of action in case the culprits are not arrested, said Dr Bhullar.
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Amritsar, March 12
Patiala, March 12