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Baisakhi gift: ICP to be opened today
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Border Mgmt Secy clarifies on hiccups
Amarinder camp takes on Ashwani
Fresh hope for Sarabjit
No impact on production target: Govt
Will contest civic poll: Manpreet
SAD rebel Kaka alleges vendetta
Punjab to ban mobile phones inside jails
Patwari dismissed for graft
Runaway couples cautioned
Three rape cases in 24 hrs in Muktsar
Murder accused attack witness in courtroom
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Baisakhi gift: ICP to be opened today
Attari (Amritsar), April 12 Union Home Minister P Chidambaram would inaugurate the ICP at 4 pm. Four more Union ministers, including Anand Sharma (Commerce), Ashwani Kumar (Parliamentary Affairs and Planning), Preneet Kaur (Minister of State, External Affairs) and M Ramachandran (MoS, Home) would also grace the occasion. Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal will also be present. The ICP inauguration will also have dignitaries from across the border, including Pakistan Commerce Minister Makdoom Amin Fahim and Punjab (Pakistan) CM Shahbaz Sharif. Military bands will also perform to add colour to the ceremony. Border Management Secretary AE Ahmed, who took stock of the preparations here today, said the high commissioners of both the countries would also participate in the event. “Apart from them, Punjab ministers, MPs and MLAs of the area will also be present.” A day before the inauguration, the security forces, including the BSF and the Punjab Police, beefed up security arrangements across the length and breadth of the ICP. DIG (Border Range) Ram Singh said around 800 policemen have been deployed at the ICP for the programme, besides the three BSF companies that are already guarding the check post. The long queues of trucks, which were a regular feature on the road leading to the Attari check post, have been cleared and all the trucks awaiting clearance for export to Pakistan have been accommodated inside the ICP, which has a holding area of 500 trucks each for import and export. Final touches are being given to the ‘pandal’ being erected for the inaugural ceremony. The ceremony will see a small gathering of selected people from different walks of life, numbering around 2,000, which is also evident from the size of the ‘pandal’ and the chairs being lined up under it. A separate ‘pandal’ has been put up to facilitate media briefing by the Union ministers after the inaugural ceremony. Meanwhile, one can sense the euphoria that the ICP has generated in this border town. Balwinder Singh, a third generation porter at the ICP hailing from Attari, said, “It will bring in more employment opportunities for the local residents, besides increasing the volume of trade.” He said his ancestors too worked as porters here and they also remember the times when there was not much trade and they even struggled for two square meals a day.
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Border farmers renew demands
Amritsar, April 12 Addressing the protesting farmers at Attari today, Border Area Sangharsh Committee vice-president Rattan Singh Randhawa said the peasants in the border belt had been facing tough times to till their land beyond the border fence for years. “The farmers cannot cultivate crops on the other side of the fence as they are allowed limited access to their land by the BSF, which results in losses to them,” he said. Randhawa claimed the successive government, both in the state and the Centre, had turned a “blind eye” to the plight of the border farmers. He demanded the government must facilitate compensation on per acre basis for the farmers having their land beyond the fence. He said the UPA government had announced a compensation of Rs 25,000 per acre, but that never materialised. The farmer leaders also demanded that the government must initiate measures to generate employment opportunities for the youth in the border belt. They sought setting up of a “Border Development Board” to ensure all-round development of the villages so that they could have access to better education and healthcare facilities, besides good roads and clean drinking water in border villages.
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Border Mgmt Secy clarifies on hiccups
Talking about the teething troubles that the ICP is facing, Border Management Secretary AE Ahmed has said the soft launch of the new facility has thrown up some issues which will be addressed.
Brief halt to cargo
movement at ICP
He said the cargo movement from both the sides, which came to halt due to stand-off over labour charges, has also resumed today.
Pakistan passengers using the old gate
On Pakistan continuing the passenger movement from the old gate, he said it was among the outstanding issues, which were being addressed by a joint technical group. “However, it doesn’t affect our processing in any way, as we have started a shuttle service to ferry passengers from the old gate to the new ICP.”
Lack of matching
infrastructure
On the lack of matching trade infrastructure on the Pakistan side, he said he didn’t see any difficulty in carrying out the trade due to this reason. About the recent controversy over labour charges, he denied they didn’t do groundwork.
Delay in installing
high-tech scanners
Regarding the delay in installing ultramodern scanners for cargo facility, he said there were huge technical issues involved in it and it would be in place once these issues were resolved.
Bid to smuggle
drugs in cargo
He said the new infrastructure would take care of this aspect with rummaging bays, scanning facility, CCTV and the BSF being there to thwart any such attempt.
— Perneet Singh
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Amarinder camp takes on Ashwani
Gurdaspur District Congress Committee (DCC) president and legislator Sukhjinder Randhawa today criticised Union Minister Ashwani Kumar for questioning Amarinder’s leadership. The minister belongs to Gurdaspur. Yesterday the Amarinder camp had scored a coup by enlisting the support of party general secretary Fatgehjang Bajwa, brother of Gurdaspur MP Partap Singh Bajwa, the strongest challenger to Amarinder’s leadership. In a statement, Randhawa claimed that Ashwani Kumar was interfering in the Pradesh Congress affairs despite the fact that he was not even remotely connected with it. Challenging Ashwani Kumar to name the nine assembly segments in Gurdaspur, Randhawa said leaders like him were a liability for the party as they never stayed, lived or visited Punjab but were counted as ministers from the Punjab quota. Randhawa challenged Ashwani Kumar to tell the people as to how much money he had spent from his MP’s Local Area Development Fund, alleging most of it had remained unutilised so far. The legislator also asked the minister to name any contribution made by him to the party, the state or Gurdaspur district in the past 15 years. “Has he or any of his family members even cast their vote in any election in Punjab,” he asked. Randhawa said Ashwani Kumar had failed to attend party rallies at Kalanaur on November 7 last and Pathankot on November 27 despite the fact that he had been nominated as a star campaigner. The MLA claimed that the minister had not even cared to collect the vehicle pass issued to him by the Chief Electoral officer for the purpose. In a separate statement, Kapurthala legislator Rana Gurjeet Singh said the fact that Partap Bajwa’s brother Fatehjang had admitted that the party needed the services of Capt Amarinder Singh because of his popularity among the Sikh peasantry and other sections of society was proof of the wide acceptability of the PCC president. He said this was also the view of most leaders of the Majha belt from where Bajwa belonged. Urging party workers not to resort to a blame game and weaken the party by attacking the PCC president, Rana Gurjeet urged them to present a united face to take on the Akalis. He also urged the high command to rein in ‘opportunists’ who were playing into the hands of the Akalis by going to the media on the issue.
62 defeated congress candidates back Capt Sixty-two of the 71 Congress candidates who lost the elections today said it was wrong to blame Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Capt Amarinder Singh for the defeat. Maintaining that there were several factors that had influenced the final outcome, they praised Amarinder for the party securing the highest vote share in the state elections. In a joint statement, they criticised certain vested interests, some of whom were a spent force, for a malicious campaign against the PCC president, driven by selfish agendas. "The contest was close and it could have swung either way", they pointed out. The party candidates attacked a Union Minister and a former PCC president, who has never contested an election, for questioning the party leadership.
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Fresh hope for Sarabjit
Chandigarh, April 12 According to sources close to Pakistan’s civil rights activist Ansar Burney, a review petition will be filed in the Indian Supreme Court next week, seeking permission for Pakistani virologist Dr Khalil Chisti to leave India. “Once Dr Chisti arrives in Pakistan, a mercy petition will be filed for Sarabjit ”. Quoting Indian officials, the source said the issue of prisoners lodged in jails across borders had come up during talks between Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari. Zardari had assured the Prime Minister that his government would reciprocate any gesture made by India. Though Sarabjit’s sister Dalbir Kaur and daughter Swapandeep could not meet Zardari, it is learnt that their plea was conveyed to Pakistan’s President. After the release of Dr Chisti, Pakistan has indicated that it will release 34 Indian fishermen at Wagah tomorrow. Awais Sheikh, counsel for Sarabjit and president of Pakistan-India Peace Initiatives, indicated that there was fresh hope for not just Sarabjit, but other Pakistani and Indian prisoners too. Sheikh has already filed a fresh mercy petition before President Zardari that is expected to be taken up after Dr Chisti’s return. Sarabjit was to be released on August 14 last year in exchange for Dr Chisti, but this decision was withheld at the last moment.Sarabjit’s prospects of freedom became even brighter after Chairman of the Press Council of India Justice Markandey Katju made an appeal for his release. Katju wrote to Zardari, saying: "I am appealing to you to order the release of Sarabjit Singh and his return to India as a humanitarian gesture, exercising your power of pardon as the Pakistan President. By doing so, you will add to the excellent impression among Indians created by your recent visit to Delhi and Ajmer Sharif and improve ties between our two countries." Both Congress and BJP have said that they hoped Pakistan would release Sarabjit on humanitarian grounds. Dr Chisti was granted bail on Mondayon humanitarian grounds.
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No impact on production target: Govt
Chandigarh, April 12 Agriculture Director Mangal Singh Dhillon said most of the Malwa and Majha regions had not seen rainfall. Areas around Chandigarh had been most affected. Fatehgarh Sahib district had recorded 9.1 mm of rainfall and Ludhiana district 10.1 mm. Others areas that had seen moderate rain were Nawanshahr, Jalandhar and Ropar. There was slight rainfall in Patiala and Sangrur districts, which usually top wheat production. Based on these facts, the agriculture department is confident that the state will be able to meet its production target of 165 lakh tonnes of wheat. The state had produced 164.72 lakh tonnes last year, considered a record harvest. The department feels this year production will be good because of reasonable cold conditions during wheat maturity. Officials said lodging had occurred in a few districts but it was manageable and no damage had been caused to the standing crop. At a few places where late sowing varieties had been irrigated, the problem was severe and the crop would now have to be harvested manually. No reason to fret
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Will contest civic poll: Manpreet
Amritsar, April 12 After the local bodies' elections, we will set our eyes on the Lok Sabha poll," He said considering the misuse of money and state machinery in the assembly elections, PPP's 5 per cent vote share was an achievement. Manpreet alleged that candidates of the Congress and the SAD had jointly spent over
Rs 10 crore in each constituency. He said money and lack of party's organisational structure had ruined their prospects. On state's economy, Manpreet claimed that a financial emergency would be imposed in the state by December this year. "The SAD had planted landlines for the Congress, but they themselves would have to walk over these now," he said. Manpreet said, "There were at least 12 constituencies where SAD candidates lost because PPP candidates were in the fray". He said the PPP would meet the Election Commission to request it to revert to the paper ballot system. "No democratic country of prominence uses EVMs. If it cannot be done, at least a printer can be attached to the EVMs so that a printed slip is generated every time a vote is cast. These slips can be later counted, if need be".
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SAD rebel Kaka alleges vendetta
Moga, April 12 He said four of his supporters, including Balwinder Singh, Sarbhjit Singh, Jagsir Singh and Bhupinder Singh, all residents of Lohgarh village, had been booked by the police for allegedly removing the foundation stone of the Lohgarh-Bhinder link road (in Lohgarh village). The foundation stone is said to have been laid by Jathedar Tota Singh in 1986-87 when he was Punjab State Agriculture Marketing Board chairman. Those booked by the police, however, claimed they had never seen the controversial foundation stone. A local police official confirmed that a criminal case under Sections 434, 427 and 489 of the IPC had been registered against the four persons at Dharamkot police station on a complaint filed by a functionary of the local market committee.
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Punjab to ban mobile phones inside jails
Sources said while a move of installing jammers inside the jails was still in the pipeline, officials had been briefed about banning the use of mobile phones inside the jails. "Mobile phones will be banned inside jails even for superintendents and others staff who will be provided walkie-talkie sets," they said. An official said, "The state government's pilot project to install jammers in all jails is yet to see light of the day due to shortage of funds. However, a sum of Rs 4 crore has been earmarked for modernisation of jail equipment, including modern communication devices for jail staff". In the recent past, over 1,000 mobile phones had been recovered from jail inmates across the state. In a recent case, allegations were levelled against former SGPC president Bibi Jagir Kaur for allegedly using her mobile phone inside the Kapurthala Jail in violation of the Jail Manual. However, once jammers are installed and walkie-talkie sets are given to the jail staff, such violations will be checked. The sources said many criminals lodged in jails were allegedly running their gangs from there itself. The Jail Manual stipulates that there is no proper provision to book them for using mobile phone. "Punjab DGP (Jails) Shashi Kant is keen to get funds to buy jammers to curb illegal activities of inmates," said a senior jail officer. At present, Punjab has seven Central Jails located at
Patiala, Bathinda, Ferozepur, Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Jalandhar and
Ludhiana, five districts jails located at Nabha, Sangrur, Faridkot, Kapurthala and
Hoshiarpur, two open-air jails located at Nabha and Kapurthala, one women's jail at Ludhiana and 10 sub-jails at
Fazilka, Majha, Mukatsar, Patti, Ropar, Barnala, Malerkotla, Phagwara, Dasuya and
Pathankot. Besides, there is a jail training school located at Patiala. “We will surely implement many more jail reforms, including banning of mobile phones from inside jails soon,” said DGP (Jails) Shashi Kant.
jamming network
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Patwari dismissed for graft
Fatehgarh Sahib, April 12 Local residents Jang Singh and Tarsem Lal had filed a complaint against the patwari for first allegedly demanding Rs 5,000 for mutation of their land and later demanding a further Rs 27,000. The Deputy Commissioner said he had marked an enquiry to the Fatehgarh Sahib SDM, who confirmed the allegations in his report. The patwari was suspended and a show-cause notice was issued, but he could not give a satisfactory reply. Another enquiry by the Khamano SDM also confirmed the charges. Besides, the patwari had also refused to give charge to the new incumbent after his transfer.
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Runaway couples cautioned
Chandigarh, April 12 The assertion by Justice Rameshwar Singh Malik, aimed at easing tension between interests of individuals and a group as a whole, came while dealing with nearly a dozen protection petitions filed on a single day by runaway couples. In one of the petitions, Kirti Goyal and another petitioner had sought directions to the State of Punjab and other respondents to protect their life and liberty on the ground that they “ had tried to persuade their parents and relatives, but in vain.” Referring to Supreme Court judgments on the right to life and liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution, Justice Malik asserted: “It is equally important to note that freedom of the individual is not absolute, but subject to the established and time-tested social norms of a civilised society. “Co-existence of freedom of the individual and social control is sine-qua-non (an essential element or condition) for sustainable progress of society and this is also an integral part of our Constitutional philosophy. “Therefore, though the petitioners are entitled to protection to their life and liberty in the given facts and circumstances of the case, but at the same time, it is also expected of them and other young citizens like them that before running away from their homes for performing this type of rebellion marriage, they must think twice, besides, listening carefully to their parents who are not their enemies, but genuine well- wishera.” Justice Malik also said: “Let us welcome the dynamic social change and evolution, but only subject to the social control and moral values which are centuries old and have not lost their shine even today ”. Before parting with the orders in almost all the cases on the issue, Justice Malik said: “It is also made clear that this order shall not entitle the petitioners for any protection against their arrest or continuance of any criminal proceedings, if they are found involved in the commission of any cognisable offence...”
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Three rape cases in 24 hrs in Muktsar
Muktsar, April 12 The victim has been admitted to the Civil Hospital, Malout. A case under Sections 376, 366, 452, 34 of the IPC and 27, 30, 54, 59 of the Arms Act has been registered against Jarnail Singh, Gurmeet Singh, an unidentified person and a woman accomplice. All are at large. In another incident, a married woman of Bhuttiwala village was allegedly raped while she was working in her kitchen by a resident of the village. A case has been registered at the Kot Bhai police station. In yet another incident, a resident of Davindera road has accused Rajinder Singh, alias Bobby, a resident of Dabwali road, of raping her. Bobby allegedly established physical ties with the victim promising that he would marry her but refused to do so later. Vakil Singh of Lambi village allegedly assaulted a girl while she was returning to Lambi from Mann village along with her brother. The accused reportedly slapped the victim's brother. On the complaint of the victim's father yesterday, a case has been registered.
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Murder accused attack witness in courtroom
Moga, April 12 SHO (city-I police station) Mohan Dass said a criminal case had been registered against Mandeep Singh Dhruv, Karnail Singh and Jaswinder Singh, who are facing trial in a murder case, under various sections of the IPC on charges of attempt to murder and threatening a witness. Gurpreet Singh’s uncle, sarpanch Rashpal Singh, and his private gunman, Jagtar Singh, were allegedly shot dead at Dhaudhar village by the accused on April 22, 2010.
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Chandigarh, April 12
Patiala, April 12