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MUNICIPAL POLL
Jalandhar: Polling to be videotaped
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Violence on poll eve in Amritsar
Additional forces deployed in Patiala
Be revengeful, Capt tells partymen; SAD complains to EC
Ropar plant unit breaks down twice in a week
MUNICIPAL POLL
Operation Bluestar Memorial
Coalition govt trying to disrupt peace: CPI
Bittu: Restore Punjab’s quota in UT admn
200-member Sikh jatha leaves for Pakistan
Urdu losing sheen in Pak, shining in India
CMCH transplants stem cells taken from German woman
Forum slaps Rs 1.25 lakh fine on doc, institute
Docs to be trained on compiling cancer data
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MUNICIPAL POLL
Ludhiana, June 9 Rishi Pal, Additional Deputy Commissioner (Development), said counting would start at 6 pm at all 964 polling booths. The results of nagar council/panchayat elections held for Macchiwara, Mullanpur, Jagraon, Maloud and Sahnewal would also be declared tomorrow. The ADC said counting would be held at six centres — SCD Government College, Government College for Women, Kundan Vidya Mandir, Arya College, Khalsa College for Women and Rotary Bhawan. “After counting, results from all six centres will be compiled and declared by 7:30 pm,” said the ADC. Deputy Commissioner of Police Ashish Chaudhry said tight security arrangements would be made at the counting centres with over 3,600 police personnel guarding these. He said: “At least three policemen will be on duty at each polling station. In sensitive areas, more personnel will be deployed. To conduct the elections peacefully, not more than five persons will be allowed to gather within the radius of 200 metres of polling booths/stations till the results are out. Besides, residents will not be allowed to carry weapons with them”.
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Jalandhar: Polling to be videotaped
Jalandhar, June 9 Ahead of the polling, a few sporadic incidents of violence were reported. SAD supporter Jassi was allegedly thrashed by Congress workers in Ward 39. There were reports of a minor clash between SAD and Congress workers in Ward 47 yesterday. Amidst complaints of being offered cash in lieu of support by SAD-BJP candidates, Congress leader Avtar Henry has alleged use of unfair means by the ruling alliance. The Congress is also arranging for installation of video cameras outside polling stations. District Election Officer Priyank Bharti said voters whose names appeared in the voter list but did not have voter ID cards would be able to cast vote after showing any of the 13 prescribed government ID cards.
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Violence on poll eve in Amritsar
Amritsar, June 9 Following this, local Congress leaders, headed by DCC president Jugal Kishore Sharma and former Mayor Sunil Datti, staged a protest outside the police station. They blocked traffic at the Rambagh Chowk and raised slogans against the “highhandedness” of the police and “illegal detention” of Midlan. Datti said instead of taking action against the accused who assaulted the Congress worker, the police arrested the victim. Midlan was later released. Meanwhile, BJP rebel and Independent candidate from Ward 8 Vipul Mehra alleged that two supporters of BJP candidate Aman Aeri, a relative of BJP Minister Anil Joshi, threw bottles on the car of his wife Puja Mehra when she was holding an election meeting at Basant Avenue. Mehra’s supporters blocked the Fatehgarh Churian road in protest. ACP Gurnam Singh along with a large number of policemen reached the spot to control the protesters. Mehra alleged that he was being pressurised by the BJP Minister to sit in favour of Aman who is an “outsider” in the ward. RP Mittal, Police Commissioner, said in the first case, there was a minor altercation between workers of the Congress and the BJP. The matter had been sorted out, he said, adding that in the second case, statements were being recorded and action would be taken accordingly. He said enough security arrangements had been made and polls would be conducted in a peaceful manner.
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Additional forces deployed in Patiala
Patiala, June 9 In order to ensure violence free polling, the district police has got additional force. In addition to the Patiala SSP, the home department has stationed two more SSP rank officers who will remain in the district till the results are declared. “We have got many senior officers and additional force for the smooth conduct of poll,” said Patiala SSP Gurpreet Singh Gill. Among those wards declared “very sensitive” are Ward No. 32 where PCC chief Amarinder Singh and Congress MLA Brahm Mohindra reside. District Magistrate GK Singh has asked Patiala SSP Gurpreet Singh Gill to ensure that the police did not spare anyone who indulged in violence or flouted the instructions issued by the administration.
The previous MC elections were marred by violence and booth capturing allegedly by supporters of the SAD-BJP alliance. The Congress had even announced to withdraw from the elections. This time, Congress leaders have been maintaining that the police is terrorising party nominees and the elections would be a repeat of the 2007 poll. For 50 municipal wards, as many as 2,50,742 (1,31,498 men, 1,19,244 women) voters will cast their vote. A total of 254 candidates are in the fray. Some of the prominent candidates are Ajit Pal Singh Kohli, Harinderpal Singh Tohra, Harpal Juneja, Anil Bajaj and Amarinder Bajaj. Akali candidate from Ward No. 39 Jaspal Pradhan has already been elected unopposed. (Inputs by Aman
Sood)
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Be revengeful, Capt tells partymen; SAD complains to EC
Chandigarh, June 9 The SAD described Amarinder’s statement as “highly provocative, undemocratic, illegal and aimed at disturbing peace in the state”. The party urged the State Election Commissioner to take note of this “derogatory and mischievous” statement. SAD secretary and spokesman Daljit Singh Cheema also lodged a formal complaint with the EC in this regard. Earlier, while congratulating Congressmen for taking on “goondaraj” unleashed by the Akalis during the civic body elections, the PPCC president asked them to “be ready for any eventuality tomorrow. Warning the Akalis against any misadventure, he said “the Congressmen would retaliate in equal measure. “Hit back twice if they hit you once,” Amarinder advised party workers. Amarinder said: “The party workers who have been framed in false cases for taking on the ‘goondaraj’ will be honoured for their courage and bravery”. The SAD spokesman alleged that it appeared that Amarinder wanted to disrupt law and order situation in the state and use it as a cover-up for his failures. He said the PCC chief could not shun his “khunda culture” despite being rejected by the people in the assembly elections.
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Ropar plant unit breaks down twice in a week
Patiala, June 9 Preliminary reports suggest the boiler tubes got choked in the re-heater zone, which led to leakage. The unit's closure has reduced daily power generation in Punjab by 50 lakh units (LU). PSPCL (Punjab State Power Corporation Limited) Director, Generation, GS Chhabra said, "The unit was shut down on April 29 for overhauling, which lasted 38 days. It was made operational on June 3, four days ahead of the June 7 deadline. After clearing the blockage in the tubes, the unit was re-started on June 7. But before full load could be achieved, the leakage was again detected." Chhabra said engineers from the Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited had been called in to rectify the snag. A senior PSPCL official, however, said there was a need to probe as to how the boiler tubes got choked when their acid cleaning was a part of the annual maintenance. PSPCL Director (Distribution) Arun Verma said since yesterday, the corporation had been receiving 340-MW power from unallocated quota of the Centre Sector Power Projects on a daily basis. He said the state's power demand at present was 1,480 LU. But once the sowing of paddy started on June 10, the demand may touch 1,900 LU. "In order to ensure uninterrupted supply to various categories of consumers and eight-hour supply to farmers, the PSPCL had signed short-term purchase agreements for procuring 384 LU of additional power," he said. Technical glitch April 29: The 210-MW unit at Guru Gobind Singh Super Thermal Plant in Ropar is shut down for annual maintenance June 3: The unit is made functional four days ahead of the official deadline on June 7 June 4: The unit shut down again as a leakage detected in the boiler due to tube blockage June 7: Hours after the unit is resrored, the boiler leakage spotted again; the unit is shut down
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Paddy sowing begins today, but labour nowhere in sight
Chandigarh, June 9 But the early signs are not good as so far few labourers have arrived in the state. The labourers are being snapped up at Rajpura and Sirhind railway stations, the entry points for major trains coming to Punjab. This has resulted in nearly 40 per cent increase in labour rates as compared to last year. Farmers in Punjab will be transplanting paddy over 27 lakh hectares mainly within a period of 20 days. The state needs a workforce of around seven lakh to do this job. Four labourers sow paddy over one acre in a day. There is no alternative to this labour intensive operation as the four-year-long drive to mechanise paddy transplantation has failed. The next 15 days will be crucial and in case farmers fail to get sufficient labour, they will be forced to take up basmati transplantation which is traditionally done a fortnight after the coarse varieties. Basmati cultivation has gone up in Punjab and now covers around 7 lakh hectares of the total 27 lakh hectares available for paddy cultivation. However, there is less enthusiasm for basmati cultivation this year due to a reduction in the open sale price of the popular 1121 variety. This is expected to add to the labour pangs as paddy transplantation will not be staggered. Amarinder Singh of Mahalon village in Ropar said migrant labour was available in towns and cities at major stations. The rates this year had increased to Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,200 per acre as compared to Rs 1,500 to Rs 1,700 per acre last year. He said competition between farmers had made the situation worse. “Labourers are being wooed with liquor, ‘dunlop’ mattresses, air coolers and in some cases even drugs,” he adds. State Agriculture Adviser BS Sidhu said shortage of migrant labour could affect the industry in Ludhiana in the coming days. “It is a matter of daily wages. In case transplantation rates go up as they have, labour force working in the industrial sector will shift to paddy transplantation”. The introduction and success of NREGA in Bihar is touted to be one of the reasons why migrations to other states have reduced. In the past 10 years, Bihar has become a food grain surplus state. Sharecropping rates in Bihar and also in Uttar Pradesh have increased, binding labourers to their land. Labourers from these states are also going to Maharashtra and even Karnataka, said progressive farmer Inderjit Singh Sekhon of Fatehgarh Channa in Sangrur district who has given advance money to a contractor for this paddy season, but is still awaiting workforce. Perennial problem
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MUNICIPAL POLL
Jalandhar, June 9 District Election Officer Puneet Bhardwaj said he had received 14 complaints regarding code violation till Saturday evening. The police has also booked the Congress candidate from Ward 39 and her husband following a complaint by SAD workers. The police on Friday night nabbed Vineet Kumar, a resident of Dakoha village, while distributing four bags of pulses and wheat flour in Ward 13. The police has also rounded up the ‘recipient’, Sunny, for his alleged involvement in the case. The items were to be distributed on behalf of an Independent candidate. A similar case was also reported in Ward 55 where supporters of a Congress candidate levelled allegation against his rival. The issue was brought to the notice of the police later. Supporters of a PPP candidate were also found distributing grocery items in New Model Town area. The suspect, Manjit Singh, owner of a general store, was booked on a complaint filed by the returning officer of the area today. The police have also recovered two bags of flour weighting 10 kg each from the shop. Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Sarbjit Singh revealed that cases under Section 171-B of the IPC were registered against the accused at the Rama Mandi and police station, Division No 6. In another case of poll code violation, two persons were nabbed with eight cartons of country-made liquor at a naka in Basti Baba Khel area last night. The suspects — Amit Kumarand Yesh Paul — were arrested for transporting liquor in a car.
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Cong MLA seeks repoll
Muktsar, June 9 Addressing a press conference, Karan Brar showed a DVD, claiming that the election authorities did not even check the voter identity cards of Akalis due to which a number of them entered the polling station. She said: “I demand re-poll in Ward 15 as the administration has completely failed to conduct the polling in a free and fair manner. I have a DVD that clearly shows that the election authorities favoured
Akalis. I will submit it to the State Election Commission”. Asked about the allegations levelled by Akalis against her son Tegbir that he slapped two of their activists, she replied: “He did not slap anyone. If they
(Akalis) have any proof, they must lodge a complaint with the police”.
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Operation Bluestar Memorial
Ludhiana, June 9 “We understand that the state government’s role in the SGPC is limited. Besides, the construction of the memorial is a sensitive issue. However, the government would have to play a proactive role so that the voters’ mandate for peace, harmony and development is respected,” he said while talking to mediapersons in Ludhiana today. Emphasising that there was no emotive issue in the recent Assembly polls, he reiterated that the people of Punjab wanted peace and harmony in the state. Though the BJP, as the coalition partner in the government, shared responsibility on the memorial issue, the party was firm that it would discourage any politics that was regressive, he said. “Punjab has passed through a tough phase. There are some elements that want to rake up emotive issues. The BJP is committed to ensure that Punjab does not go back to dark days,” he said. Admitting that the BJP was a minor coalition partner, he said post-civic polls, the district-level coordination committees would be formed for better coordination between the workers of the two parties.
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Coalition govt trying to disrupt peace: CPI
Chandigarh, June 9 “Now it was accommodating the radicals by allowing them to raise the memorial and resort to other activities,” said Dayal. The CPI leader said the government was responsible for what happened in the state in the past few days. “The SAD has a firm control over the SGPC, whose majority of members owe allegiance to it. Besides, the SGPC chief is named by the SAD president,” he said.
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Bittu: Restore Punjab’s quota in UT admn
Chandigarh, June 9 Bittu demanded implementation of the 60:40 model, decided in 1966, at the time of formation of the Punjab state for the recruitment of staff in the UT administration. He said the number of Punjab employees had gone down tremendously in the UT administration due to diluting of the quota system. At the time of declaring Chandigarh as Union Territory, the Union Government had given a commitment that 60 per cent employees in the
UT administration and departments would be from Punjab.
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200-member Sikh jatha leaves for Pakistan
Amritsar, June 9 The purpose of the visit is to observe the martyrdom day of fifth Sikh guru Guru Arjan Dev at Dehra Sahib in Lahore. The pilgrims were stranded at the railway station after the Indian authorities refused to allow a special Pakistan train from entering India. The devotees had also staged a protest and raised slogans at the railway station yesterday against the government authorities concerned. The Pakistan government had granted visa to 485 Sikh devotees who had applied through the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, Bhai Mardana Yaadgari Kirtan Darbar Society (Ferozepur), Khalra Mission Committee and Nankana Sahib Sikh Yatri
Jatha.
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Urdu losing sheen in Pak, shining in India
Ludhiana, June 9 They said the impact of westernisation has taken out Urdu from the routine life of Pakistanis. “People in Pakistan argue about the common sense of learning Urdu language and stress on reading English. For them, Urdu means people chewing pan, wearing sherwani (kurta paizama) and visiting mushairas. Thanks to Bollywood, Urdu is flourishing in India. The film industry has made a significant contribution in restoring Urdu and widened its scope. It is merely not a language of mushairas,” said Prof Taj. The duo was troubled at the fact that the language that evolved in a purely secular environment was hijacked and mistakenly associated with only Muslims or Islam. “Sadly, the two countries (India and Pakistan) not only created borders, but they also divided a secular spoken language in two parts, which are now being written in different scripts, Hindi and Urdu. Fortunately, Urdu-Hindi is not divided in the US. Our department does not differentiate between Hindi- Urdu, it is one language to us,” said John Caldwell, an MBA from Yale University, a bachelor of Russian Studies from Harvard University and Masters in Western Classical Music. The duo met DIG MF Farooqui here today and congratulated the officer over his recently released Urdu poetry compilation “Thoda Sa Main”. They appreciated the contribution of senior IPS officer towards Urdu literature. Prof Taj has received a grant of one million US$ (highest ever) from the Department of Education, US, for free online language courses.
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CMCH transplants stem cells taken from German woman
Ludhiana, June 9 Dr Joseph John, Associate Professor and Head, Clinical Haematology, Haemato-Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplant Unit, CMCH, said, "Amrit Pal (8) from Bathinda was diagnosed with suffering from acute myeloid leukemia. As there was residual disease after his chemotherapy, the only chance of cure for him was stem cell transplantation with normal stem cells.” “As he is the only son of his parents, the chance of a sibling match was not possible. Extensive human leukocyte antigen (HLA) search in his parents and his close family members did not find an HLA identical donor. Hence the donor search was extended to donor registries in India and abroad. An HLA identical donor (42-year-old Germany woman) was located in Frankfurt through German registry. (There are 10 HLA antigens that need to be matched for a transplant),” he said, adding that it was on February 11 when stem cells of the German woman were successfully transplanted in Amrit Pal. “Now after 120 days of the transplant, Amrit Pal is doing very well, his own body has started generating its own stem cells," said Dr John. Dr John said, “There are a very few centres in India which conducts Matched Unrelated Donor (MUD) transplant and most of them are located in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. The CMCH is the first centre in northern India to have successfully performed this procedure." Dr Abraham G Thomas, Director, CMCH, said, “A new transplant centre would be opened shortly and our next step is to offer MUD transplant for thalassaemia patients as there is a huge need in this part of the country." The process
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Forum slaps Rs 1.25 lakh fine on doc, institute
Faridkot, June 9 During the orthopaedic implants on the victim, the doctor used a demo plate that is generally available for surgical practice, staff instruction and client demonstration. Even this plate was not sterilised before it was implanted in the arm of the patient. The commission has directed the doctor and the hospital to pay Rs 1,25,660 to the victim for the pain he suffered and the money he spent on his treatment. In a complaint to the Commission, Surjit Singh, a resident of Bir Bholu Wala village of the district, accused Dr Harnit Singh and Dashmesh Institute of Research and Dental Sciences of medical negligence. Surjit alleged that he suffered a fracture in the lower part of the left arm and was operated upon by Dr Harnit Singh at the institute. The doctor used a metal plate to provide strength. But after some days, Surjit had acute infection in his operated arm. Doctors at the dental institute were unable to control the infection and the patient was sent to the Civil Hospital where it was diagnosed that the plate led to the infection. The patient was then referred to Guru Gobind Singh Medical College, Faridkot, where the plate was removed. During the hearing, the doctor claimed that he had purchased the plate from Ludhiana, but a perusal of the record found that the plate was meant only for demo purpose and not for sale and implantation. Even this demo plate was not sterilised before it was implanted, observed the commission in its order. Defending their case, the doctor and dental institute sought to rely on the weak immunity of the patient and other environmental causes for him getting infection. “In the present case, when a plate for demo purpose was implanted in a patient even without any sterilisation, there is no scope of escaping the infection even if a patient has high immunity,” observed the state commission.
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Docs to be trained on compiling cancer data
Patiala, June 9 Dr MS Bal, principal investigator of the project, said workshops would be hosted by Shri Guru Ram Das Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Amritsar, on June 12, the Department of Health and Family Welfare at Jalandhar on June 13 and Mohan Dai Oswal Cancer Hospital, Ludhiana, on June 14 so that proper and authenticated cancer data could be collected. He said, "In case of each cancer patient, the name, age, sex, name of spouse, complete postal address, mobile number, along with site and type of cancer, mode of diagnosis (biopsy, cytology, PAP, blood film, bone marrow), date of first diagnosis, primary tumour, metastasis, classification of diseases , treatment taken, date of death in case the cancer patient has died etc, are recorded and submitted online to the NCRP headquarters."
—TNS
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City Centre scam
Ludhiana, June 9 The case was adjourned without any progress as the junior defence lawyer representing Today Homes took adjournment. It was pleaded that a senior lawyer from Delhi was to present arguments against framing charges but he was unable to be present. Reacting sharply, Additional Public Prosecutors Ashwani Bedi and Sukhchain Singh alleged that the defence lawyers were intentionally and willfully delaying the start of the trial on one pretext or the other. They stressed for not adjourning the matter without hearing arguments as the case was lingering for years. The chargesheet was filed around four years ago. Even the charges have not been framed yet. Hardly any accused was present in the court at the time of hearing. It was learnt that the Sessions Judge had already told them that there was no necessity of presence of accused persons at the time of arguments against framing charges.
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A day after completion of annual maintenance work at the unit number 1 of Guru Gobind Singh Super Thermal Plant in
Ropar, the 210-MW unit had to be shut down again on June 4 when its boiler leaked due to choking of its two tubes. The unit was made operational after repairs on June 7. But, it had to be shut down the same day as the leakage was detected again.
Urdu is losing sheen in Pakistan, but the language is shining in India. Prof Afroz Taj and John Caldwell of the Department of Asian Studies, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA, who are in the state to mark the Saadat Hasan Manto’s centenary year, said Urdu has been reduced to a language of
mushairas.
The fate of about 528 candidates in the fray for the Municipal Corporation elections, to be held on Sunday, will be decided by 7:30 pm tomorrow. Voting will be held at 964 polling booths between 8 am and 4 pm. More than nine lakh voters will cast their votes for 75 wards.
Nearly 5.03 lakh voters from the city will cast their vote to elect councillors for 58 out of the 60 MC wards tomorrow. In two wards — 21 and 45 — SAD candidates have already been declared unopposed. Dalwinder Kaur Gandhi, sitting SAD councillor Kamaljit Gandhi's wife from Ward 21 was declared winner after Congress candidate Anita Seth's papers were rejected. Senior Deputy Mayor Kamaljit Bhatia of Ward 45 was declared winner after Congress candidate Gulshan Sarangal withdrew his papers.
Incidents of violence and protests were reported in the city on the eve of the Municipal Corporation elections today. Congress worker Sujinder Midlan was allegedly thrashed and beaten up by supporters of BJP candidate and rebel Youth Congress leader Damandeep Singh last night. Midlan was later detained at Rambagh police station.
The district administration has declared 41 municipal wards “hypersensitive” and the rest nine wards “sensitive”. The move came after the Congress expressed its apprehensions that leaders of the ruling alliance will resort to violence and other illegal means to win the municipal elections.
In a separate statement, Congress Legislature Party leader Sunil Jakhar alleged that policemen were actually Akali workers in uniform who were following the diktats of their leaders. What was the point of having elections when Congress workers and leaders were being intimidated and there was no mechanism to address complaints, he asked.