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SC reserves verdict on Bhullar’s plea
Khalra Mission: Probe fake encounters
Members of the Khalra Mission Organisation at a press conference in Amritsar on Thursday. Photo: Vishal Kumar |
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Stuck in hell hole, he hung on to hope
They stand united in hour of need
While around 1,200 Dera Sacha Sauda men (in pic) have been actively helping the National Disaster Response Force in rescue work, the Sikh Sangat has been organising a round-the-clock 'langar' near the factory site. A Tribune photograph
Rescuers go vertically down to save Nitesh
Divisional Commissioner summons factory records
Urban Development Mission on cards
New power tariff order delayed
Shopkeepers block traffic in Patiala
Punjab offers land for NDRF centre
Punjab told to arrest erring jail officials
High Court sets time frame, proposes penalty
HC order quashing land acquisition set aside
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SC reserves verdict on Bhullar’s plea
New Delhi, April 19
During the arguments today, the Bench asked the Central Government to have a timeframe for deciding mercy petitions. Additional Solicitor-General Haren Raval sought three months’ time for getting the government’s response to the suggestion. The impact of death sentences was getting lost due to the long delays in dealing with the mercy petitions, the Bench pointed out. Further, people’s faith in the government’s ability to maintain law and order depended on such matters, the court reasoned. “It is troubling us that some cases have political overtones,” the Bench said. The court said it wanted to know whether the mercy pleas of those with political connections were being treated differently. In this connection, the Bench sought details of the mercy petitions filed by convicts who did not have any support from outside quarters. Raval said in the case of Nalini, sentenced to death in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, as many as 8,000 mercy petitions had been received. Ultimately, she was granted pardon. Bhullar, his wife Navneet Kaur and the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Managing Committee (DSGMC) had approached the SC seeking commutation of the death sentence on several grounds, including Bhullar’s mental ailment. The 1993 bomb attack in Delhi had killed nine security personnel and 25 persons, including Bitta, were injured. Bhullar is lodged at the Tihar Jail here. About 26 mercy petitions are pending before the President, some of them since 1992.
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Khalra Mission: Probe fake encounters
Amritsar, April 19 It said the Supreme Court had on April 13 sought the stand of the Centre and all state governments on a plea for an independent probe into all cases of alleged killing by the police in staged shootouts in the past 10 years in the country. Paramjeet Kaur Khalra and Harmandeep Singh Sarhali, the organisation’s patron and chief, respectively, in a letter to the Chief Justice of India, said the state witnessed “large -scale human rights violations between 1978 and 1995 and, therefore, the Supreme Court should order an investigation into the killing of innocent people in Punjab during this period. “We appreciate the SC ruling of April 13 ... but in case of Punjab we feel it has deprived us of justice once again,” reads the letter. The organisation also sent the Chief Justice the names of 36 women “tortured to death” during the dark days of militancy. Harmandeep Singh Sarhali said they would soon file a petition in the Supreme Court, pleading that all cases of “fake” encounters and human rights violations in the state from 1978 to 1995 be probed.
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Stuck in hell hole, he hung on to hope
Jalandhar, April 19
Now, the friends lie united again. They are receiving treatment at the same hospital — their beds are at a distance of a few metres. Like Sanjiv, Nitesh too hid under a cutting machine and both survived with minor bruises. Both are finding it hard to believe they were taken out alive even as several of their colleagues weren’t so fortunate. Nitesh recalls his ordeal: “There was some noise and a few seconds later, the building came down. I hid below a cutting machine.”
Though unusual, he says, he neither felt thirsty nor hungry for three days. “I had finished my dinner minutes before the mishap… The only thing that bothered me was the tremendous heat. Rats were moving around, but they didn’t trouble me much.” One thing that he missed the most was his cellphone. “My friend Amarjit, who too has survived, took my mobile phone half an hour before the disaster. Had I got it, I would have easily contacted my friends.” In frustration, Nitesh tore all the currency notes, totalling around Rs 9,000, he had in his purse. He had received his salary hours that day. “I had lost all hopes. I tore the entire bundle of notes at one go and then kept on toring them into smaller bits. As I did all this, I only had one thing on my mind: If at all the Almighty gives me a chance to live, he may even bless me with more money,” he remembers while laughing at his foolishness. Nitesh would be receiving Rs 40,000 as relief from the Punjab Government. It was around 10 pm yesterday that Nitesh heard the rumbling of machines. “I heard some noise and shouted for help. The response came and I kept on answering whatever the rescue team asked me….They finally reached me after around two-and-a-half hours,” he narrates. Asked if he tried to collect the bits of currency notes when he saw help coming his way, he says, “I was so excited to come out that I did not even for once want to return into the hell hole.” Nitesh says he and his father Suresh Yadav, who came from Bihar after learning about the incident, sat down weeping for around an hour. “I am eager to see my mother and younger brother in Bihar. I am not really sure whether I will ever return to work in Punjab,” exclaims Nitesh, his face beaming with joy. The death toll from the Jalandhar building collapse incident has risen to 19 while the count of those rescued from the rubble has touched 62. The number of casualties may further rise as the debris of the ground and first floors of the four-storeyed building was yet to be cleared. Deputy Commissioner Priyank Bharti said nine bodies had been extricated till Wednesday while one more was pulled out from the debris on Thursday. Besides, the Army and National Disaster Response Force personnel had spotted nine bodies inside, which were yet to be pulled out. Bharti said the administration would confirm the deaths of these nine workers only after their bodies were extricated. The police remand of Shital Vij, owner of the collapsed factory, has been extended by four more days by a city court today. Shital was produced in the court of illaqa magistrate Tripatjit Kaur, who remanded him to police custody for four more days till April 23. The police had requested the court to extend the remand for at least seven more days for procuring the record, including the register of the employees working in the factory and getting other relevant information from him.
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They stand united in hour of need
Jalandhar, April 19 While around 1,200 dera men have been actively helping the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) in the rescue work, the Sikh Sangat has been organising round-the-clock langar near the factory site. The dera men under the aegis of Shah Satnamji Green S Welfare Force had got a weeklong training in rescue work for various disasters like fire, flood and building collapse incidents by retired Army officials in Sirsa. Their head, Des Raj, told The Tribune: “We reached the spot soon after learning about the incident. Our volunteers, who have come from various parts of Malwa and Doaba regions, have been working in two shifts”. The dera volunteers include well-educated persons, including CAs, engineers and doctors. A Zira-based dera follower, Raj Kumar, sustained minor injuries when he slipped into the rubble during the rescue operation on Wednesday. Des Raj said the volunteers had submitted affidavits before getting training that they would be responsible for any mishap during the rescue work. Similarly, Sikh sangat head Jarnail Singh, manager of the historical Ber Sahib gurdwara in Sultanpur Lodhi, said they had been organising round-the-clock langar on the direction of the SGPC. He said the langar for the rescue teams, policemen and mediapersons was being prepared at Ber Sahib. He said: “The SGPC had earlier organised langars at various disaster sites, including quake-hit Bhuj and tsunami-hit Andaman and Nicobar islands”. Both Des Raj and Jarnail Singh said: “We are doing service to the humanity and this service is above all irrespective of any caste, creed and ideology”. Besides, a number of other associations, including RSS, Bharat Vikas Parishad and Pahal, are also helping the administration in the rescue work.
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Rescuers go vertically down to save Nitesh
Jalandhar, April 19 While for all other survivors, intervention had come from one of the four sides of the factory, Nitesh, who was hiding under a cutting machine on the ground floor, was brought out by Army jawans after digging a tunnel from the top of the third floor. The fourth floor was removed a day before. On reaching the ground floor, they heard a voice calling for help. Nitesh had been saying that there were two more persons with him. When Nitesh informed the jawans that he was stuck under the cutting machine, Col Simarjeet Singh, who was leading the rescue team, took some labourers along and asked them about the location of the cutting machines. A 30-ft burrow was then dug using special equipment like pinjior rock drill and rock grinders. Nitesh was responding quickly to the light being flashed on him. He was taken out in just two hours after being detected alive. Being fit with not even a slightest scar, he chose to come out without a stretcher. Teams create around dozen chambers The Army and the NDRF teams dug up at least a dozen holes on the roof of the third floor and made interconnecting chambers this morning. They cut through the second and first floors to reach the ground level which had the maximum concentration of labourers. Jawans were sent down with microphones to check for any response. JCB machines were silenced in-between. Life detector machines were taken down to check for responses. After the rescue teams failed to locate any survivor, the machines were restarted in the afternoon. Hoax SOS call puts everybody on toes A hoax call this morning put the rescuers on their toes. “Main andar phasa hu (I am stuck inside),” the moment Mayank, a factory labourer, received this call from one Sanjiv, he rushed to the police for support. The police informed the Army authorities, which traced the half-a-minute call to a village in Bihar. Most survivors rescued at night Call it a coincidence or factual correlation, most survivors were detected at night. Nitesh’s voice was heard at 10 pm last night. Sanjiv, the one who was taken out 51 hours after the tragedy, came out at 1 am a day before. The voices of Manoj Bhagat, Vir Chand and Satinder were also heard at night before they were taken out on Tuesday morning. Col Simarjeet said: “It is probably due to the fact that the traffic thins out around midnight and work stops in some factories surrounding the site. The atmosphere turns serene and concentration level improves”.
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Divisional Commissioner summons factory records
Jalandhar, April 19 Verma, it is learnt, had sought details regarding the sanctions accorded to the industrial unit owned by Sheetal Vij. After the meeting, Verma said: "I am not satisfied with the details that the officials of various departments produced and have asked them to rework and come back with genuine documents." — Bipin Bhardwaj
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Urban Development Mission on cards
Chandigarh, April 19 Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal took a decision to this effect during a high- level meeting of the Local Government Department here today. Badal said the state government would spend Rs 8,635 crore on providing cent per cent amenities like water supply, sewerage, sewage treatment plants (STP), roads and housing for the urban poor during the next three years. He said a sum of Rs 1,470 crore had already been spent on various ongoing development projects in 81 cities. He emphasised that these works must be completed in a time-bound manner and schemes for the remaining 60 towns be prepared at the earliest. Stressing on decentralisation of power to further strengthen urban local bodies, the Chief Minister said all municipal committees should be empowered to carry out their functions as per the statutes.
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New power tariff order delayed
Chandigarh, April 19 Sources said the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC), a constitutional body mandated to determine the new tariff, has done its job. However, it is waiting for the official response. Sources in the commission said that the government was yet to give its comments on the annual revenue requirement (ARR) petition filed by the PSPCL about four months ago for revising power tariff for the current fiscal year. Without the government’s comments, the new tariff order cannot be finalised. In its petition, the PSPCL had projected a revenue gap of Rs 8,984 crore. This can be bridged by increasing the tariff by 55 per cent per unit for all categories of consumers. The government would have to express its viewpoint on the projected revenue gap and the continuing subsidy to the farm sector. However, the power department feels the PSPCL would be able to overcome the fiscal crisis with a 20 per cent increase in the tariff (from Rs 4.65 per unit to Rs 5.68 per unit). This would result in additional revenue of about Rs 3,000 crore per annum.
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Demolition of encroachments on roads
Patiala, april 19 The shopkeepers, many of whom have encroached upon government land alongside roads, refused to budge. They blocked traffic at Rajpura Road, Sirhind Road and Gurdwara Dukhniwaran Sahib roads for many hours. The traffic police failed to make alternate arrangements despite the fact that the shopkeepers have been resorting to similar tactics for many days. As a result, the administration has given some days’ notice to the shopkeepers. The Patiala Municipal Corporation, which had planned for a demolition drive against illegal buildings along scheduled roads has also delayed the drive following dharnas by shopkeepers. Nidhi Sharma, a local resident, said, “The high court must pull up the officers in the administration who have failed till date to impose the court orders.” Following violation of the Punjab Schedule Roads Act, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had directed the administration to clear five metres of area on both sides of the scheduled roads, including Nabha Road, Sangrur Road, Sirhind road and Rajpura Road, before April 20. After the orders were received, the MC authorities had written to the Deputy Commissioner and Senior Superintendent of Police to make proper security arrangements for the demolition fearing violence. Criticising the MC officials, a representative of the affected shopkeepers, rued that the orders had come suddenly and they were operating from roads for many years. “We need an explanation,” he said. Patiala DC Vikas Garg said action would be taken and the shopkeepers had submitted a memorandum, which is being looked into. “No one will be allowed to go against the law,” Garg said.
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Punjab offers land for NDRF centre
Chandigarh, April 19 In a communiqué to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Chief Minister apprised him of the recent tragedy in Jalandhar where a building collapsed resulted in loss of several lives and injuries to many.
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Drug peddling
Chandigarh, April 19 A Bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Mahesh Grover initially gave the state time till afternoon for the arrest of the two officials. The hearing of the case was adjourned till afternoon to enable the state to inform the Bench about the arrest of the officials. But the deadline was extended after the government sought more time for the purpose. The state now has time till Monday to arrest the officials. The deadline came more than a month after the state told the high court that two officers, Jail Superintendent Tejinder Singh Sodhi and Deputy Jail Superintendent Perminder Singh, had been indicted by an inquiry panel. Already, Perminder Singh’s services have been terminated and Sodhi’s pension has been forfeited. Teams have been sent to arrest them. The development is significant as it gives credence to Punjab Director-General of Prisons Shashi Kant’s assertion that prison bars are not strong enough to keep the drug mafia out. Shashi Kant and the government, in fact, have been virtually at loggerheads on the issue of drug peddling in jails. A petition on the issue has been filed by Tarlochan Singh through counsel Navkiran Singh, a Mohali resident.
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Six-laning of Jalandhar-Panipat highway
Chandigarh, April 19
The court has directed the chief secretaries of Punjab and Haryana to ensure that the departments concerned in their states thresh out all issues with the concessionaire and grant them requisite permissions for going ahead with the work. The court has also directed that a penalty of Rs 50 crore be imposed on the concessionaire, and another penalty of Rs 5 crore be imposed on the director of the concessionaire, PR Rao, if they fail to complete the project within this time frame. The proposal to widen this highly congested stretch of the national highway was cleared in May 2008 and the work was awarded to a concessionaire called Soma Isolux on a design, finance, build operate and transfer (DFBOT) basis. But almost four years down the lane, the dream of a high-speed highway seems nowhere close to reality, with work on the project moving at a snail’s pace. Commuters traveling on these roads face delays in travel as majority of flyovers remain incomplete, and they are repeatedly driven off the highway onto diversions where work on main carriageway is underway. Inquiries made by The Tribune reveal that so far construction of most structures (bridges, passenger underpasses and vehicular underpasses) and a portion of service roads, is yet to be complete. The main carriageway, too, is not ready and has been completed only in bits and pieces. Of the 291.1-km stretch, 210 km of the main carriageway is complete while of the 176 structures, only 71 are complete and open for traffic. Since the work has been allotted on a DFBOT basis, the concessionaire can collect toll on a sharing basis with the NHAI so as to fund the project cost. As part of this agreement, the concessionaire was allowed to give 20.14 per cent of the total toll it collected to the NHAI in the first year. NHAI’s share in the toll collection goes up by one per cent each year till the end of the concession period in May 2023.
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HC order quashing land acquisition set aside
Chandigarh, April 19 Allowing a bunch of writ petitions, the Single Judge on October 20, 1989, had quashed the acquisition of land “notified as 16.44 acres Town Planning Scheme between Panj Rattan Hotel and Sirhind Canal on Goniana Road”. But the Division Bench of Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice AN Jindal has categorically ruled: “The order of the Single judge is not sustainable. The same is set aside and the appeals preferred by the Bathinda Improvement Trust are allowed.” A notification under Section 36 of the land Acquisition Act was initially published on September 9, 1976, but was quashed by the high court on December 3, 1982, as subsequent notification under Section 42 was not published within three years. On January 6, 1984, the Improvement Trust passed a resolution, recommending the publication of Town Planning Schemes, as notified earlier. The Deputy Commissioner passed an order on January 30, 1984, suspending the resolution of the Improvement Trust, but notification under Section 36 of the Act was published. Subsequently, notification under Section 42 was published on January 28, 1987; and the award was announced on December 23, 1988. The Single Judge allowed the writ petitions for the reason that the writ petitioners or the landlords were not served with notice under Section 38 of the Act. After hearing senior advocate Salil Sagar and Samarth Sagar on behalf of the Trust, the Bench ruled: “There is absolute prohibition of publication of a notification under Section 42 of the Act beyond three years of the first publication of notification under Section 36 of the Act.” A Single Judge on October 20, 1989, had quashed the acquisition of land “notified as 16.44 acres Town Planning Scheme between Panj Rattan Hotel and Sirhind Canal on Goniana Road”. The Division Bench on Thursday ruled: “The order of the Single judge is not sustainable. The same is set aside and the appeals preferred by the Bathinda Improvement Trust are allowed”.
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The Khalra Mission Organisation today demanded a thorough probe into the fake encounters that took place in the state between 1978 and 1995, while referring to the recent Supreme Court verdict in this regard.
Jalandhar, April 19 
A Bench comprising Justices GS Singhvi and SJ Mukhopadhaya passed an order to the effect at the conclusion of pleadings that Bhullar be spared from the gallows as he had virtually undergone life sentence due to the long delay in the rejection of his mercy plea. The Centre, however, opposed the plea.
While Sanjiv was saved around 51 hours after the mishap at 1:20 am on Tuesday, the Almighty blessed Nitesh with a “new life” at 12:30 am on Wednesday, 73 hours after the illegal blanket-manufacturing factory building came down like a pack of cards.
The Punjab Government has decided to establish the State Urban Development Mission (SUDM) that would direct policy and programme formulation for holistic development, covering basic amenities and recognising contextual specificities of all cities.
Yet again, the concessionaire will not be able to meet the deadline given to it by the NHAI for June 2012. In an affidavit filed before the Division Bench, headed by Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court Ranjan Gogoi today, the concessionaire pleaded that they would be able to complete all work on the part of the highway falling in Haryana by December, and the stretch falling in Punjab, would be ready by March 2013.