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Power crisis worsens as demand at all-time high
Heat wave claims 6 lives in Amritsar
Milk price to go up as yield hit
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Sarabjit’s sister meets Sonia
Water in all villages to be tested: Badal
SAD gets edge over BJP in Amritsar MC
Raj Kumar Jolly (ward no. 3)
Mayors likely to be appointed in Sept
Mansoorpur firing incident Residents of Mansoorpur village sit on a dharna on the Jalandhar-Jammu highway in Kukerian on Wednesday. A Tribune photograph
Alleging graft, woman attempts self-immolation
Vigilance AIG chargesheeted
3 months on, stone crushers allowed to resume operations
PU debars 51 BEd colleges from admitting students
Electroplating units raided
Education board joint secretary suspended
Provide relief to riot victims in four months, Centre told
‘Had to face a storm when cash-for-judge scam broke’
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Power crisis worsens as demand at all-time high
Patiala, July 4 Power cuts have become order of the day for all categories of consumers across the state. While a majority of the districts are facing cuts for six hours in the domestic sector, the situation is better in Bathinda, which is facing cuts for just two hours a day. The Northern Grid caters to Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi. Because of no rains and spurt in demand, the grid is overloaded. "The frequency of the grid has been fluctuating between 49.3 and 49.5 because of overdrawing of power by Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh," sources said, adding that drawing power when the frequency remained below 49.5 was a matter of concern because it posed a risk to the grid. Meanwhile, a delegation of farmers led by Satnam Singh Behru, president, state unit of the Indian Farmers Association, today met Arun Verma, Director (Distribution), PSPCL, and apprised him of the problems being faced by the farmers. Behru said: "The PSPCL has not yet installed new transformers at villages from where these were stolen. Farmers are suffering a lot due to the delay". He said Verma had promised that the farmers would get proper supply for which necessary steps would be taken at the earliest. "The corporation has in the recent past purchased 3,511 LU through unscheduled interchange (UI), which proves that the PSPCL is making all efforts to improve the power scenario," Verma said. While some of the neighbouring states had purchased power at much higher rates through UI charge, the average cost of power purchased through UI by Punjab in May and June was about Rs 4.3 per unit, he added. Meanwhile, the PSPCL has sent a communiqué to Power Secretary Anirudh Tiwari, stating that a ban should be imposed on the use of ACs in all government offices. "We have requested the Power Secretary to take up the matter with Chief Secretary Rakesh Singh. If the ban is imposed, it will help manage the power problem to some extent," said a senior PSPCL officer.
Industry for cap on electricity duty Patiala: Industrialists have demanded that there should be a cap on electricity duty (ED), which should be uniform across the country. Apex Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Punjab) president PD Sharma said 13 per cent ED on the state industry was the second highest in the country. If the government increased the ED to 17 per cent as proposed, it would spell doom for the state industry, he added.
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Heat wave claims 6 lives in Amritsar
Amritsar, July 4 Most of the victims are yet to be identified. The police said three of them seemed to be beggars while one was a drug addict. The six recent victims include an unidentified person who was under treatment at a local hospital. Four deaths have been reported in the area under jurisdiction of the C-division police station. Investigating Officer Balwinder Singh said an unidentified youth was found unconscious in Himmatpura area. He was rushed to a hospital, but was declared brought dead. Another person aged 55-60 years, who seemed mentally upset, was found lying opposite Gurdwara Shaheed Baba Deep Singh. His body temperature was very high. He died in a hospital a few hours later. Balwinder Singh said an old person in late sixties was found terminally ill in a lane situated near the same gurdwara on June 25. He died in a hospital today. The body of an unidentified person was found from a market near Gurdwara Baba Atal Rai yesterday. The Lawrence road police authorities found the body of an unidentified person from Dayanand Nagar area. The youth who was in his early thirties seemed to be a drug addict as police officials found habit forming drugs from his pocket. Since the city has a number of religious places of prominence, the number of beggars and destitute people here is high. Even as the district administration has set up a shelter at Old Karam Singh Ward here, due to lack of any rehabilitation policy, the beggars prefer to stay around religious places.
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Milk price to go up as yield hit
Chandigarh, July 4 Dairy farmers have argued that in the past two months, cattle feed, soyabean and mustard cake prices had almost doubled and it had become difficult for them to sustain the dairy business. Milk prices are fixed on the basis of fat content. At present, the price of milk with a fat content of 6.5 is Rs 29 a litre. Apart from cattle feed and mustard cake prices, the prolonged dry spell and high level of humidity have also hit dairy farmers. “There has been a 15 to 20 per cent fall in milk yield per cattle in the past 20 days owing to the high level of humidity,” said Punjab Dairy Farmers Association president Daljeet Singh Sadarpura. He said the fall in milk yield began immediately after the starting of paddy transplantation season in the second week of June.
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Sarabjit’s sister meets Sonia
New Delhi/Amritsar, July 4 Maintaining that she could not express the pain that the family had experienced, Dalbir said Sonia Gandhi gave her a patient hearing and assured of all help. “Soniaji assured us of trying her best to get my brother back. She said the government is equally concerned about him,” said Dalbir. Dalbir, who met Sonia at her residence, said she requested the Congress president to add the issue in the government’s political agenda to be taken up with Pakistan in the future. Meanwhile, the family members of Sarabjeet Singh performed a yajna in Amritsar today to pray for his release from Pakistan jail. A number of social activists also attended the event.
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Water in all villages to be tested: Badal
Rabbon Uchhi (Ludhiana), July 4 The presence of uranium and arsenic in the underground water was a matter of serious concern, said the Chief Minister. “The salinity in underground water in many parts of the state may jeopardise the chances of bumper food production,” he added. He also referred to the Planning Commission’s apprehension that the salinity content of the water could have serious economic repercussions. Urging for a collective community-based approach to the ecology-related issues, he said it was imperative for the people to take steps to protect the environment. A tree plantation drive should be launched at the community level, he suggested. “Each individual in a family could plant at least one sapling,” he added. Exhorting the youth to opt for vocational training courses and self-employment ventures, he categorically said it was not possible for all to secure the government jobs. Blaming delayed monsoons for aggravating the power crisis, Badal said the state government was making elaborate arrangements to ensure “uninterrupted power supply” in the state. He added that the state government was purchasing 350 MW power from the Central pool this year also like the previous years. He claimed that there would be no shortage of power within the next two years. Announcing that a life-size statue of Baba Maharaj Singh would be installed in Ludhiana city and the school at Rabbon Uchhi would be renamed in the martyr’s memory, Badal said Baba Maharaj Singh was among the first freedom fighters of the region. The state government would soon build a state-of-the-art Jung-e-Azadi Memorial at Kartarpur over an area of 25 acre, he added.
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SAD gets edge over BJP in Amritsar MC
Amritsar, July 4 In the MC House of 65, the SAD and the BJP had bagged 24 seats each when the results were announced last month. Eleven seats were bagged by Independents, followed with four by the Congress and one by the CPI. The result was withheld in view of complaints regarding EVM hacking and booth-capturing. Subsequently, re-polling was held at two booths on June 15. Today's result was on the expected lines as the Congress candidate, Surinder Chaudhary, and an Independent had joined the SAD prior to re-polling. With today's result, the battle for the post of Mayor has hot up between the two alliance partners even though Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal is likely to stick to the pact with the BJP, under which the post goes to the saffron party in the holy city. The local SAD leadership, however, has made no bones about its ambition to see a SAD leader occupy the key post and now with the party's tally going one up as compared to the BJP, they may push for the post despite having the pact with the BJP. Amritsar's SAD unit chief Upkar Singh Sandhu said any decision in this regard would be taken by Badal. Reminded about his claim in the aftermath of the MC poll results, he said, "Yes, we wish to see our party occupy the key post, it is our right." On the other hand, BJP district president Anand Sharma said the SAD may have won more seats, but the alliance partners would stick to their old formula of both the parties having mayors in two cities each.
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Mayors likely to be appointed in Sept
Chandigarh, July 4 This means the government will not be able to appoint the four mayors till the first week of September and the present mayors can hold meetings and take appropriate decisions. The term of the Amritsar and Ludhiana elected bodies comes to an end on September 2 and that of the Jalandhar and Patiala bodies on September 6. Sources said section 243 (U) of the constitution clearly mentioned that in case a local body house was dissolved, the new house would continue for the remaining period only. This means if the bodies are dissolved now, the new ones could function for the remaining two months of the five-year term only. Moreover, the 74th constitutional amendment has limited the state's powers to dissolve elected bodies.
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Mansoorpur firing incident
Mukerian, July 4 The villagers alleged involvement of a local BJP leader in a clash between two groups over a land
dispute in which Gurpreet Singh was killed on June 28. They said the police had arrested Baldev Singh, a US-based NRI, while the main accused, Bhupinder Singh Sona, and his accomplices Jaspal, Daljit Singh and Manjinder Singh were still at large. The irate villagers demanded suspension of the area DSP and the SHO. Local MLA Rajnish Kumar Bubby also joined the protesters. SP (detective) Jagmohan Singh and Mukerian SDM Rahul Chaba reached the spot and assured the villagers of appropriate action following which the blockade was lifted. Traffic on the highway remained disrupted for a long time even as police personnel tried to regulate the movement of vehicles.
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Alleging graft, woman attempts self-immolation
Bathinda, July 4 High drama was witnessed for more than two hours as mediapersons, area residents and heavy police force gathered at the over bridge. The police arrested her for attempting self-immolation. The woman, Geeta Rani, is a resident of Railway Colony and a member of Shiv Sena (Rashtravad). She accused the District Transport Officer of not attending his office regularly, which has allegedly led to corruption and harassment of the public. "The officer comes to the office only once a week and people who wish to get their pending works done fail to meet him. Only agents manage to get their works done in the absence of the DTO," Geeta said. She was later pacified by senior police functionaries. She was also taken to the DTO office where the DTO held a meeting with her in the presence of policemen. The DTO informed Geeta about his “hectic schedule and demanding duty”. "The DTO has told me that he will expel all agents operating in the office and that public work will be done on a priority. If he failed to stick to his words, I will highlight the issue again," Geeta said. She said she would now launch an agitation against poor condition of the Multania road. She said she along with area residents would burn effigies of local SAD leaders to highlight the plight of commuters.
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Vigilance AIG chargesheeted
Chandigarh, July 4 The CBI had laid a trap after receiving the complaint. Its officials also raided Sandhu's house in Sector 28 and seized some documents. The chargesheet was filed under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The next date of hearing in the case is July 16. Sandhu, a Punjab Police Service officer, was earlier arrested in connection with the infamous Moga sex scandal in 2008 along with some senior police officials.
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3 months on, stone crushers allowed to resume operations
Chandigarh, July 4 Following The Tribune reportage in April this year on how a large number of unauthorised crushers had come up in the mining belt, especially in Ropar and Pathankot districts, and that they were involved in illegal mining, the state government stepped in and closed down all stone crushers. Though this move had led to some reprieve from the plundering of the earth for its minor minerals, it also led to a huge shortage of sand and gravel required by the construction industry. It is learnt that the severe shortage of construction material also hit the major infrastructure projects, with construction work virtually coming to a standstill. Amongst the major projects that were hit by the short supply of construction material were the construction work at the new international airport at Mohali and the six laning work of the National Highway 1- between Panipat and Jalandhar. This also led to a sharp rise in prices of construction material, with prices escalating up to three times. The price of a truckload of gravel increased to Rs 1,850 per 100 sq feet and that of sand to Rs 1,700 per 200 square foot (one truckload).
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PU debars 51 BEd colleges from admitting students
Chandigarh, June 4 A special notice has been issued to 51 colleges, which in the recent inspections were found guilty of having unqualified staff, temporary principals, salary as low as Rs 10,000 and non-existence of libraries and medical rooms. "It's high time, some steps have to be taken to save the future of thousands of students. The three-month long extensive inspections carried out in these colleges brought to fore the poor state of affairs. Unfortunately, the Senate politics has always shielded these institutions, which continue to befool the university. Every time they get away by pleading a mercy chance and their students suffer. We cannot have money-minting factories handing out degrees rather than education to students. They should correct themselves or shut down," said a member of the committee. In the recent inspections carried out by the university, it was found that these colleges had hired unqualified staff on an ad hoc basis without the mandatory approval from the university. The number of such faculty members varied from college to college and in some cases was as high as 70 per cent. More than 35 colleges were neither paying salaries nor DA to their employees as prescribed by the UGC. Colleges like BKM College, Guru Nanak College of Education, Dalewal, Hoshiarpur, SGGS College of Education, Beghpur, Lal Hans Raj Memorial College in Moga, Muktsar Institute of Higher Education, Dashmesh College in Muktsar, Guru Gobind Singh College in Gidderbaha, GGSK College in Kamalpur and Bhutta College and Pratap College in Ludhiana were found indulging in serious violations.
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Electroplating units raided
Patiala, July 4 Giving information, Board member secretary Dr Babu Ram said six teams headed by senior officers of the PPCB raided electroplating units and inspected minutely the treatment and disposal of effluent from these units. "The major shortcomings observed during the raids include sending less effluent for treatment at the CETP, non-installation of mandatory flow measuring devices and non-maintenance of the records," he said. Board chairman Ravinder Singh said strict action would be taken against the violators. He further said the board is following the policy of zero tolerance against the pollution control norm
violators.
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Education board joint secretary suspended
Mohali, July 4 He said Soni had retired on May 31, 2012, but he got a stay order against his retirement from the Punjab and Haryana High Court and at present was working on an extended tenure for a year. Apart from Soni’s suspension, the board has also ordered a few transfers. The charge of Special Secretary to the Chairman has been given to Janak Raj Mehrook, who was working as Deputy Secretary (UMC). Mehrook replaced Surinder Singh. The officer on special duty to the Chairman, Ved Vyas, has been replaced with Davinder Kumar, who was working as a superintendent in the accounts branch. Davinder Kumar has also been given the charge of transport after removing Paramjit Singh from the post. Maninder Pal Singh, who was working as a manager at the board's guest house, has been elevated to the post of superintendent in the secrecy branch.
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Provide relief to riot victims in four months, Centre told
Chandigarh, July 4 The directions came on a petition filed in public interest by Inder Bir Singh Chhatwal against the Union of India through its secretary. In his petition placed before the Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Jasbir Singh and Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain, the petitioner had sought the issuance of a writ, directing the respondents to monitor and ensure
disbursement of relief to the 1984 riot victims. The petitioner had added that the entire exercise should be carried as per
the sanctioned rehabilitation package. As the case came up for arguments, the Bench noticed that two applications have been filed by victims Tijender Singh and Balbir Singh. The Bench also took note of the contention that the applications were filed within the stipulated period before the authority concerned, but no action was taken on it. The Bench asserted: "Under the circumstances, we disposed of this writ petition by issuing the directions to the Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, New Delhi, to ensure that action be taken on the applications, filed by the above said individuals". Before parting with the judgment, the Bench also set a four-month deadline for the Centre to act. "If they are eligible, the compensation amount be disbursed to them forthwith. Needful be done within four months from the receipt of a copy of this order," the Bench ruled. The directions come just about four years after another Bench of the High Court directed the Mohali Deputy Commissioner to hold an inquiry into the issuance of red cards to the 1984 riot victims. A Division Bench had issued directions after the state counsel expressed doubts about the authenticity
of red cards issued to the victims. Already, Punjab has been caught fibbing in the matter. It denied any irregularity in the issuance of red cards to 578 riot victims. But, the Punjab and Haryana High Court only recently observed that a vigilance inquiry, said to have been conducted into matter, has found that the documents furnished by as many as 30 beneficiaries were forged.
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‘Had to face a storm when cash-for-judge scam broke’
Chandigarh, July 4 A permanent Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice Nirmaljit Kaur is scheduled to take oath as a Judge of the Rajasthan High Court in Jodhpur on June 9, pursuant to her transfer. Justice Nirmaljit Kaur was instrumental in unearthing the scam that rocked the judiciary in August 2008. Justice Nirmaljit Kaur had, in fact, called the Chandigarh Police after a carry bag stuffed with Rs 15 lakh cash was erroneously delivered at her residence. The case was initially registered by the Chandigarh Police, but the investigation was later handed over to the CBI. In the probe that followed, another Judge with similar name Justice Nirmal Yadav's name surfaced as the alleged intended recipient of Rs 15 lakh. Justice Yadav has since retired and a criminal case against her is going on in Sector 17 district courts. Already, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has made it clear that Justice Nirmal Yadav cannot claim any special right or privilege as an accused just because she has enjoyed one of the highest constitutional offices. Her plea against the orders is now pending before the Supreme Court. Transposed back in time by the emotive speeches in her praise from the Bar and the Bench in the jam-packed Barroom, Justice Nirmaljit Kaur said, "I had been a High Court Judge for just 30 days and was still receiving congratulatory messages when the unusual happened". In a voice choked with emotion, Justice Nirmaljit Kaur said she did what any good citizen should do under the circumstances. But, there was a mixed reaction to her action; and she had to face a storm for no fault of hers. "Seeing the warm response from the Bench and the Bar at farewell, I have forgotten the storm…. If I was not transferred, there would not have been a farewell and I would not have got to hear such nice and wonderful things," she concluded. The farewell this afternoon was attended by nothing less than 500 advocates. Emotions ran high as full-of-praise advocates surrounded Justice Nirmaljit Kaur soon after her speech to bid her adieu.
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Rabbon Uchhi (Ludhiana), July 4
The race for the Mayor's post in the holy city took an interesting turn today with the SAD's tally going up to 25, one more than its alliance partner BJP (24), after Akali Dal candidate Raj Kumar Jolly was declared elected from Ward No. 3, the result of which was withheld on June 10.
Alleging police inaction in a firing incident in which an NRI's son was shot dead, scores of Mansoorpur village residents assembled outside the local Civil Hospital and blocked the
Jalandhar-Jammu highway for over an hour today. The villagers alleged involvement of a local BJP leader in a clash between two groups over a land
dispute in which Gurpreet Singh was killed on June 28.
Reports from various parts of the state, including Amritsar, Ludhiana, Patiala, Jalandhar, Fatehgarh Sahib, Mohali and Sangrur, reveal that Punjab is passing through one of the worst power crises in the recent years.
Though the PSPCL has been saying that it is drawing only 5,100 MW (available transfer capacity) from the Northern Grid, the Northern Regional Load Dispatch Centre authorities have claimed that the PSPCL has been drawing even more than the total transfer capacity (TTC) of 5,400 MW fixed for Punjab.
Local Bodies Minister Bhagat Chunni Lal had recommended immediate dissolution of all the corporation bodies of Amritsar, Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Patiala. However, after taking legal opinion, including that of the Punjab Advocate General, the government decided not to undertake the step and allow the elected bodies to complete their five-year term.
The chargesheet was filed in the court of CBI Special Judge Vimal Kumar. Sandhu, who was posted in the Vigilance Department, was allegedly caught red-handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 50,000 on July 12 last year from the complainant in the case, Nishant Sharma, a Mohali resident and former Shiv Sena youth wing president. Nishant had alleged that Sandhu demanded Rs 3 lakh for favouring him in a case.
Apparently moved by the response she received from the Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar on her farewell function, Justice Nirmaljit Kaur asserted: "I am so glad I did what I did".