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Rejected paddy on its way to distilleries
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PU’s Muktsar centre in dire straits
Countering peddlers
Pak intruder shot dead in Gurdaspur
Back in politics, Hans sings paeans on Sukhbir
Welfare funds being misused: MLA
Inform rural people of human rights, NGOs told
Farmers block traffic against delay in wheat procurement
School curriculum to include de-addiction
Girls burn their father to death
Mill owner among 4 booked in paddy scam
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Rejected paddy on its way to distilleries
Chandigarh, April 15 Rotten stocks of paddy at two open storage sites in Khamano, sold through tenders to rice shellers in violation of procurement rules and guidelines, are being shifted to rice processing units at Khanna, Kapurthala, Dhuri, Jalalabad and Khamano. Procured at Rs 950 a quintal, the stocks are being disposed off at Rs 620.25 a quintal, causing the state exchequer losses running into crores. The stocks belong to Markfed, Punjab Warehousing Corporation and Punsup.The state agencies not only pay for lifting and transportation of the procured paddy to the storage sites but also dole out huge sums for storage besides watch and ward charges. Paddy stocks at Ranwa and the Khamano Administrative Complex have been lying on wooden plinths in the open ever since their procurement in 2009. In the absence of proper upkeep and maintenance, these stocks have been declared unfit for human consumption. Under the rules, paddy damaged beyond a point should be sold to poultry and cattle feed units and not to shellers for processing rice. Even officials of state agencies like Punsup and Markfed admit that the damaged paddy should not be sent to rice mills. Some junior officials of these agencies were unhappy over the manner in which they were being held responsible for damages and subsequent losses. State agencies, unmindful of the growing damage and mounting losses, neither forced the millers , whom a major portion of these stocks were handed over after procurement, to process the paddy nor moved the stocks to other shellers for processing. The stocks were let to rot in the open. All this continued to happen even though the apex court wanted the foodgrain to be distributed free among the poor and those living below the poverty line than allowing the stocks to rot because of the apathy of the state apparatus. Sources said the state agencies were violating Central guidelines by allotting these “damaged and unfit for human consumption stocks” to shellers for processing. Under the rules, paddy damaged beyond 5 per cent cannot be allotted for processing as rice. The rice, so processed, is likely to be supplied to distilleries to be made into alcohol for popular brands of Indian-Made Foreign Liquor. Most of the distilleries have now shifted to grain-based alcohol from the conventional malt processing. On an average, the state would be losing about Rs 500 to Rs 600 on each quintal of paddy that it procured in 2009. The rice shellers may still make Rs 30 to Rs 50 a quintal on processing these damaged stocks. A senior Markfed official, pleading anonymity, said that due procedure had been followed. It was with permission of the Arbitrator that tenders had been invited to clear these stocks. Punjab Food Minister Adesh Partap Singh Kairon could not be contacted for comment.
The Grain Rot IN THE STATE
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PU’s Muktsar centre in dire straits
Muktsar, April 15 The roof of the building, which earlier housed a school, is in a dilapidated condition. A senior teacher told The Tribune that a team of engineers from Chandigarh which assessed the condition of the building some time ago, had declared it unsafe, but that could not bring any change here. Things turn particularly bad during the rainy season when water seeps through the walls of the classrooms. Some of the classrooms are too small as they have been formed after making a partition. However, except holding discussions to find out an appropriate place, the state government and the university authorities could do nothing for the past 14 years. A final decision on the allotment of land is still awaited. The centre’s faculty had met the Chief Minister in this regard a number of times, but the situation is still the same. Teachers said the university had several times sent them a formal communication to find an appropriate piece of land. Besides, the matter had also been discussed with the Chief Secretary, but nothing positive came out of it, they said. “Earlier, we were assured of allotment of land here, but that too did not materialise,” the teachers said, adding that they were unable to understand why the government was ignoring the centre that had been imparting education to nearly 500 students.
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Countering peddlers
Not only contraband, cases related to the recovery of arms and ammunition have also shown a substantial increase. Sources say till date this year, 127.155 kg of heroin, worth Rs 635 crore in the international market, has been recovered. A huge quantity of other drugs, fake Indian currency amounting to Rs 19.28 lakh, 12 pistols, pump action gun (Baretta) and ammunition have also been seized. Apart from the seizures, eight Pakistani smugglers were gunned down while six others were arrested. The BSF also nabbed four Bangladeshis and as many Indian drug peddlers involved in cross-border smuggling. Last year, the BSF had recovered 67.97 kg of heroin and fake currency amounting to Rs 41.71 lakh during the first quarter.
Smugglers change modus operandi
During the entire operation, the smugglers on both sides communicate through mobile phones using Pakistani SIM cards to evade any interception by the Indian security and intelligence agencies.
Pakistani SIM cards proving a headache
The cross-border drug peddlers continue to use Pakistani SIMs even inside the Indian territory to evade surveillance and interception by the security agencies. The process has been going on for some time now and regular seizure of these Pakistani SIMs is being made. However, the agencies have been unable to find any solution to check the practice, which has been posing a serious threat to the security of the nation. The BSF officials admit that the Pakistani mobile operatives have their presence inside the Indian border. Pakistani service provider Mobilink, which leads the market share with 30.75 million subscribers, has connectivity up to several hundred metres in Mamdot, Khem Karan and Ferozepur areas while another company, U-Fone, has its signals reaching several villages in Mamdot and Amarkot areas.
Unregistered SIMs in wide circulation
Modern gadgets
aid surveillance
The BSF officials say that modern surveillance gadgets like HHTI (hand-held thermal imagers), LORROS (long range reconnaissance and observation system) and night vision scopes, which have been procured from Israel and a few other countries, are now being used by the troops at forward locations along the zero line. These gadgets have proved beneficial for the troops as they have improved surveillance along the border due to which any movement ahead of the fencing can be easily spotted. Moreover, the installation of high mask illumination pole lights along the border has also increased visibility even during foggy days and the darkest of nights.
Welfare programme for vulnerable youth
Most of the time, unemployed and frustrated youths belonging to the border villages are hired as couriers by the professional drug smugglers. The job fetches them quick and easy money, ranging from Rs 25,000 to Rs 40,000 for a packet of heroin. The couriers, say BSF officials, are generally unaware about the origin and final destination of the consignment due to which security agencies are not able to apprehend the kingpins behind the drug racket. The BSF has launched a civil action programme for the welfare of the people residing in villages along the zero line and its hinterland. The programme has given tremendous results as the inflow of information regarding sinister activities has increased, which, in turn, has helped the intelligence agencies keep track on the nefarious designs of the smugglers in the sensitive border areas.
What BSF Inspector General has to say
The BSF Inspector General, Punjab Frontier, Aditya Mishra, says the force has also increased the strength of troops patrolling the border, which has helped in combating the menace of drug peddling. "After the recent recruitment, all vacancies in the force have been filled," he says. Sources say coordinated efforts were being made with the help of other security agencies to keep a check on the cross-border drug trade, which has paid rich dividends.
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Pak intruder shot dead in Gurdaspur
Dera Baba Nanak (Gurdaspur), April 15 A 9 mm pistol and four SIM cards (three unused U-Fone and one used Telenor) were found from the encounter site. Addressing a press conference near the encounter site, BSF DIG PS Bains said an inquiry had been initiated into the incident. “Prima facie it appears that he was a drug smuggler and wanted to hand over the SIM cards to his Indian accomplices,” Bains said. He said vigilance had been increased along the border. He was all praise to the BSF’s Hot Interception Troops (HIT) unit for spotting the intruder. “I give all credit to my jawans, particularly Sitara Singh and Maha Singh. I do not believe the intruder was a terrorist. We suspect that he might have been an accomplice of drug smugglers in India. The facts of the case will be known only after a preliminary inquiry report.” Two bullets hit the deceased on the head and on the left shoulder. His body remained lying in the wheat fields throughout the night, Bains
added.
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Badal tells revenue officials not to collect funds from public
Chandigarh, April 15 Badal directed Chief Secretary Rakesh Singh to enhance the earmarked allocation to Rs 20 lakh per annum from the existing Rs 10 lakh and even more in case of districts like Amritsar keeping in view the high number of visiting VIPs. Usually, in the absence of adequate funds, most of the deputy commissioners ask subdivisional magistrates (SDMs) to make arrangements for the visiting VIPs. SDMs further delegate the job to tehsildars who collect money from people who visit their offices for getting land deeds and mutations registered or for other revenue-related work. This is a major reason for corruption in the Revenue Department. Badal told the deputy commissioners to ensure that there was no illegal collection of money by revenue officials. The Chief Minister also told DCs to be accessible and redress people’s grievances on priority. They were also told to dispose of pending cases and attend office from Tuesday to Thursday and visit rural areas once in a week.
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Back in politics, Hans sings paeans on Sukhbir
Hans had virtually left politics after his defeat in the 2009 Parliamentary elections. He lost the election to his nearest rival and the then PPCC president Mohinder Singh Kaypee. He managed to secure 3.85 lakh votes. It is learnt that the party may field him in the 2014 Parliamentary elections. Since Jalandhar Parliamentary constituency is dominated by Dalit voters, the SAD leadership is toying with the idea to utilise the goodwill and fan following of Hans as a singer to its advantage in the polls. More than 46 per cent voters in Doaba are Dalits and Hans belongs to the Majhbi-Balmiki community. Apart from being a 'Sufi' singer, he is also the head of a Nakodar-based shrine, "Laal Badshah Da Durbar". "I remained dejected and depressed for over two years after my defeat. But now I am happy and decided to dedicate my whole life to the SAD and its chief Sukhbir Singh Badal. Sukhbir is my 'political guru' and he is instrumental in bringing me back to active politics," he said. "I got a bit shaky and shifted my base to Mumbai, as I was thinking that nobody was asking for me after my defeat. But Sukhbir did not forget me. He has pushed me to the forefront once again," said Hans. Hans remained in political oblivion for over two years after 2009 polls. He had even declared that he would never try his luck in politics again. "In fact, when I went to Mumbai in a state of utter dejection, I had forgotten that over 3.85 lakh people, who had voted for me, had showered so much of love upon me. I should not have left them. Sukhbirji hugged me and reminded me about them. He persuaded me to re-join politics. He had ordered me to do so in such a loving manner that I could not say no to him," he said. About contesting the next Parliamentary elections, he said, "I cannot say anything at this moment. I will do whatever Sukhbir will say. I am blessed as I have not only been made vice-president, but also a member of the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of the party."
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Welfare funds being misused: MLA
Chandigarh, April 15 Parminder said in absence of regular meetings, the implementation of these programmes had been affected to a large extent. Funds meant for welfare schemes were not being utilised properly and there was no transparency, he added. He said in Ferozepur district, the meeting had not been held for about an year. The committee was supposed to meet once in three months, he said, adding that similar was the case with other districts. The MLA said while the Akali Dal had been alleging discrimination in the allocation of Central funds, it was the state government that had failed to avail of a number of schemes. In some cases, money transferred by the Centre for a particular scheme was diverted by the state government to some other schemes.
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Solar cooking system at Golden Temple soon
Amritsar, April 15 Stating this after paying obeisance at the Golden Temple here today, Dr Abdullah said under the new system, as many as 30 solar concentrating dishes would provide steam for cooking about a tonne of dal per day. Besides, the system would have a hybrid boiler to help generate steam during cloudy and rainy days. He said the project would halve the consumption of LPG cylinders from 100 per day now to 50. He said such systems had already been installed at Tirupati temple, Sai Baba Temple at Shirdi and Brahma Kumari Ashram at Mount Abu. Dr Abdullah said a team of experts would soon visit the Golden Temple and Gurdwara Baba Deep Singh to carry out a feasibility study. Earlier, the minister accompanied by SGPC officials, Akali and Congress leaders observed functioning of the 5,000-LPD solar water heater system installed atop the langar hall building. Besides the solar water system, the New and Renewable Energy Ministry has provided 25 kW solar photovoltaic power plant installed at Guru Ram Das Serai. Punjab’s Non-Conventional Energy Minister Bikram Singh Majithia said renewable power plants generating 504 MV of electricity had been set up in the state. Out of this, 362.50 MV was from biomass power and cogeneration projects, he said. SGPC secretary Dalmegh Singh, who had studied working of the solar cooking system at Sai Baba temple at Shridi, said the entire energy requirement of the Golden Temple was around 300 kW. He said the Union Minister had assured that the entire Rs 1.40 crore cost of the project would be borne by the
Centre.
Going green
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Inform rural people of human rights, NGOs told
Patiala, April 15 He said NGOs should take up the noble cause of making people aware about their rights. He said the Commission realised that it was not possible to create awareness among rural masses about their human rights by sitting in Chandigarh. Therefore, they decided to organise awareness camps in villages and already organised 45 such camps in the recent past. "The main aim of these camps is to help people know about their human rights and live a better life in a healthy environment by getting good education and health facilities, pollution free environment and potable water," he said. He says India got independence 64 years ago, but still people are devoid of basic facilities due to lack of awareness about their rights. "The Commission is committed to provide them the best of facilities, he said, adding that Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar was a great visionary and had included human rights in the Constitution so many years ago. He said, "We must provide better living conditions to our forthcoming generations; otherwise our future generations will blame us lifelong." He said if anyone wanted to send a complaint to the Commission, he or she could send it on a plain paper, e-mail or fax, but the complaint should have full address and signature of the complainant. Commission member Barjinder Thakur and retired justice Baldev Singh were also present. Meanwhile, BJP Human Rights Cell, Punjab, president Gurtej Singh Dhillon apprised the Commission members about the problem of drinking water in Bathonia village near Rajpura Bhalla said that the Commission had received 1.74 lakh cases out of which 1.64 lakh had already been solved and the remaining 10,000 would be solved at the earliest. He said out of the total complaints received by the Commission, 60 per cent were related to police. Therefore, the Commission will soon hold special awareness camps to improve police-public relations in near future.
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Farmers block traffic against delay in wheat procurement
Patiala, April 15 Sanaur MLA Laal Singh too joined the stir and staged a dharna. On getting information, SDM Anil Garg, SP Daljit Singh Rana and DSP (Rural) Harvinder Singh Sandhu reached the spot. Farmers Gursewak Singh, Satpal Singh and Charanjit Singh informed the officials that they had been sitting in mandis for the past 10 days, but the procurement process had not yet been started, which caused mental harassment to farmers. The SDM assured them that the procurement would begin at the earliest. Criticising the Punjab government for delaying the purchase, Laal Singh alleged that the Punjab government had started the purchase from April 1, but so far not even a single grain had been purchased. "For the past two days, I have been visiting mandis in Sanaur, Devigarh, Dudhan Sadhan, Bhunarheri, Panjola, Balberha etc and farmers have been sitting there for the past 10 days. No senior officer has reached the markets to begin procurement as a result of which the markets are flooded with wheat and it is lying in the open. The recent showers had even damaged the crop in some mandis," he said. "The SAD-BJP government, which calls itself farmer-friendly, is not paying any heed to this issue and has not made any arrangements for proper storage and purchase of the wheat crop," he said. After the protest, the administration started the procurement process at Sanaur grain market today. Punjab Warehousing Corporation chairman Randhir Singh Rakhra, SDM Anil Garg and Deputy Food Supply Controller Anjuman Bhaskar were present there and got the process initiated.
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Wheat crop on 11 acres gutted
Patiala, April 15 Villagers tried to douse the fire by throwing water, but were unable to do so due to wind and the entire crop was gutted before the fire brigade reached the spot after an hour of the incident. Avtar Singh, one of the affected farmers, said that his crop in six bighas was completely damaged in the fire. He said, "Such incidents have taken place several times in the past also, but the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited is not paying any heed to the problem. Wires above our fields have been loosely hanging for the past many years and no one bothered to check them." "Due to high velocity winds, wires touched each other and the fire started due to sparks in the wires. The fire immediately caught dry wheat crop and high speed winds spread it all over within a few seconds," added another affected farmer Amarjeet Singh.
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School curriculum to include de-addiction Bathinda, April 15 The DGSE has laid a 14-point programme wherein the DEOs and head teachers of various schools have been directed to ensure that drug addiction is discussed during the morning assembly. DGSE officials said the department aims to catch children young and save them from falling in the habit later in life. Instructions have been issued keeping in view the increasing drug addiction habit among students. The school notice boards would now carry a slogan daily related to de-addiction and to encourage students, slogan-writing competitions and poster-making competitions would also be held at the school level. The Bal Sabha (student meetings) held on the last working day of every month would also have activities related to the subject. The activities would include skit, poetical recitation, fancy dress, debate and declamation.Special rallies would be held on Anti Tobacco Day and International Drug Abuse Day during which the students would generate awareness on the issue in the areas surrounding their schools. Emphasis has also been laid on counselling the students already caught in the addiction web, entrusting students with constructive and innovative work as well as encouraging them to participate in sporting activities and creating a collage highlighting ill-effects of drug addiction to be displayed on school notice boards.
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Girls burn their father to death
Tarn Taran, April 15 Sources said Baldev Singh was sleeping in the courtyard of his house when his daughters Devinder Kaur (22) and Shinder Kaur (20) poured kerosene on him and set him ablaze. When he raised an alarm and shouted for help, they pushed him inside a room and set the room on fire. The girls initially told the police that they did not come to the rescue of their father because his pleas for help were probably drowned in a noisy pedestal fan in their bedroom. They said their mother was sleeping in another
room. Rabinder Singh, investigating officer and Patti Station House Officer, said the girls confessed to their elder sister, Kulwinder
Kaur, that they had killed their father. “We became suspicious when we learnt that the two girls felt ‘suffocated’ under the restrictions imposed on them by their father. Sometimes he would beat them severely,” he said. The police has booked Devinder Kaur and Shinder Kaur under Sections 302 and 34,
IPC, on the statement of Mangal Singh, brother of the deceased. Why do kids kill their parents?
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Mill owner among 4 booked in paddy scam
Ferozepur, April 15 The police had received a complaint from the PSWC regarding misappropriation of paddy by the mill owner allegedly in connivance with the officials of the department. Acting on the compliant, the police conducted an investigation following which the case was registered. Sources said during 2010-11, the PSWC had stored a large amount of paddy for milling in one of the rice mills in Guruharsahai. The rice sheller was supposed to release around 9,800 quintals of rice worth Rs 1.9 crore to the agency. However, the agency did not receive the said consignment of rice.
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While the Central guidelines allow only 5 per cent relaxation because of moisture/discolouration or broken grains, here the percentage of damage is between 40 per cent and 100 per cent. Not only jute bags but also the paddy in them had decayed, emitting an unbearable stench forcing people in the neighbourhood to protest. 
The first quarter of the current year has witnessed record seizures of narcotics as compared to the previous years along the 553-km-long border that the country shares with Pakistan here. The credit goes to an enhanced vigil by the Border Security Force to combat heightened smuggling activities in the area.
Earlier, say the BSF officials, the cross-border drug peddlers used to adopt "conceal and clear" strategy to smuggle contraband to India. However, of late, the agents from the Pakistani side have started coming up to the border fence while taking cover of 'sirkanda' (tall wild grass) or standing crops in the fields along the border. Subsequently, they either throw the consignment over the fence or use plastic pipes to push it across the electrocuted barbed wires where their Indian counterparts are ready to receive the consignment.
A lot of foreign companies operate in Pakistan, which include Telenor (Norwegian), Zong (Chinese), WorldCall (Oman). Besides, UAE-based Warid also has a large subscriber base in Pakistan. Security officials say that in the absence of any stringent regulatory laws in Pakistan, a large number of unregistered SIM cards are in circulation there, which at times make their way into India. "It is extremely difficult to prevent the incursion of these SIMs as they can be easily brought here through legal interface like Wagah or Attari and even through other grey channels as well," say BSF officials. The smugglers who use Pakistani SIMs keep changing the mobile user and their number to ensure they are not intercepted. The BSF officials reveal that earlier both smugglers as well as spies used to operate through satellite phones to execute their tasks. However, security agencies were able to track down their details. But, intercepting the SIM cards is a cumbersome job as their servers are based on the other side of the border.
Jalandhar, April 15