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Drugs scourge assumes alarming proportions in state’s border belt
Kandi area to be developed as dairy farming hub: Badal
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Ludhiana to have North’s biggest turf club
Infant’s Death: Nurse who asked for money suspended
New Terminal at Chandigarh Airport
Tough time ahead for paddy farmers
Capt allowed to go abroad
Saini Case: NGO accuses govt
of dual policy on terrorism
Majithia seeks renewable energy projects
Ex-DGPs allowed 2 gunmen
Schools told to buy 3 utensils for
Rs 50!
Now on, free neo-natal care
Ban on pressure horns demanded
Role of cops near Haryana border under scanner
Vigilance chief talks tough on corruption
Kamaljit moves HC, wants Bibi’s sentence enhanced
Dera chief made respondent
Wanted conman held in Lambi
Sportsman turns snatcher, held
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Drugs scourge assumes alarming proportions in state’s border belt
Gurdaspur, July 27
Sources say if 1 kg of narcotics is seized, at least 20 kg of the drug goes undetected and is sold in the streets. The BSF has seized nearly 50 kg of high-quality heroin in the district in the last one year estimated at Rs 250 crore. The smugglers often use the Ravi, Beas and Ujh river waters to transport the contraband. Senior top police officers say the menace, if not controlled, may devour the lives of thousands of youngsters. With no solution in sight, more and more youngsters, particularly the unemployed, are getting addicted to drugs. Says Romesh Mahajan, Director of the Red-Cross De-addiction Centre: “The situation is becoming painful with thousands of youth taking to poppy husk, opium, psychotropic substances and cough syrups. The porous border with Pakistan is one of the major reasons for drugs finding their way into the district with ease. I have reports that every third youngster in Majha is on drugs.” The Deputy Commissioner, Dr Abhinav Trikha, advocates bringing in industry to remove unemployment. “Once employed, the youngsters are unlikely to take to drugs. See what Nestle has done to Moga. It has changed the way people look at life. The plant procures dairy milk from local farmers and also provides jobs to the local population.” Ravcharan Brar, SSP, admits that the scourge has assumed gigantic proportions. “We have deployed human filters at strategic routes often used by smugglers.These cops intermingle with the locals and provide useful intelligence inputs. We have caught some big-time smugglers in the recent past,” he said. Unemployment and peer pressure may not be the only reasons why youngsters are taking to drugs. This is what Samson Saini, a budding body-builder, wrote in the diary of a de-addiction centre: “I (Samson), am the only son of my parents and am totally addicted. I completed my BSc (Sports Medicine) last year and wanted to be a fitness model. One day I saw a young fitness model sniffing hashish on a TV channel. I started doing the same and now I am totally destroyed. My life is in a shambles. Please help me.”
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Kandi area to be developed as dairy farming hub: Badal
Talwara (Hoshiarpur), July 27 "Successive Congress governments neglected the Kandi belt despite the area having huge potential for dairy farming, fish farming, poultry and emu farming," he said. The Chief Minister is on a four-day thanksgiving tour to Dasuya assembly constituency from where Sukhjit Kaur Sahi of the SAD-BJP won recently. During a Sangat Darshan in Talwara, Badal disbursed grants worth Rs 5 crore among 60 villages. He also laid the foundation stone of a research centre of Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University at Bhatoli village. "The centre will be developed as a model project. It will keep the farmers of Kandi belt updated on livestock-related information," he said. Badal also used the occasion to hit out at the Union Government. Dubbing the Centre as "anti-farmer", he said: "The UPA Government has failed to protect the interests of the farming community of Punjab. It is ironical that Punjab farmers, who made the nation self-reliant in food production, have been reduced to beggars by the Centre." On the Centre's directions to Punjab for making payments directly (without involving arhtiyas) to farmers, the Chief Minister said: "The Centre should the leave the issue to Punjab and instead focus on ensuring proper lifting, storage and movement of foodgrain from the state." Badal said the state government had since long been demanding setting up of silos on scientific lines, "but to no avail".Replying to a query regarding the proposal to raise the retirement age of government employees from 58 to 60 years, the Chief Minister said, "The state government has not taken any decision on the matter so far." About any changes in the state's mining policy, he said illegal practices in the field would not be tolerated. "I have already directed the officials concerned to take stringent steps for checking illegal mining." The Chief Minister was accompanied by BJP state chief Ashwani Sharma, Chief Parliamentary Secretary Chaudhary Nand Lal, MLAs Sukhjeet Kaur Sahi and Surinder Singh Bhulle and former ministers Tikshan Sud and Arunesh
Shakar.
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Ludhiana to have North’s biggest turf club
About 140 acres of government land has been identified for the project, which would be transferred to a developer selected by the PIDB through a bidding process. The total cost of the project is expected to be around Rs 200 crore. The club will have a race track with a minimum length of 1,200 metres, capacity to accommodate 3,000 spectators, stables for 500 horses and a betting arena. It is also proposed to have an international equestrian sports centre in the turf club. Punjab has a substantial number of stud farms, especially in the Malwa region, and equestrian enthusiasts show great interest in breeds raised here. The government has also decided to develop a stud farm in Ludhiana district. "Almost all stud farms in Punjab are sending their horses for racing to turf clubs in Mumbai and Bangalore. The setting up of a turf club here will be a great opportunity for them," said an official associated with the project. Sources said the PIDB was already in the process of finalising a technical consultant for preparing a feasibility-cum-master plan for the project. The 'request for proposal' document for appointing the consultant has already been floated. The consultant is expected to be appointed on July 30 and the state government is expecting big companies, including international, to participate in the bidding process. "The project has been put on fast-track and we hope to launch it by the year-end," the official said.
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Infant’s Death: Nurse who asked for money suspended
Jalandhar, July 27 Talking to the media, he said the infant’s parents were told to pay Rs 200 on Oberoi’s insistence even though she was not on duty at the paediatrics ward. Dr Karanjit Singh said the behaviour of the hospital staff with the infant’s parents was condemnable. He said steps would be taken to ensure that the patients and their kin were treated better. Asked whether the department would exhume the infant’s body for a postmortem examination to determine the cause of the death, the Director said this could be done only with the consent of the victim’s parents. A member of the inquiry committee constituted to look into the incident, however, said the parents were not in favour of such a measure. Reliable sources said a sum of Rs 1,000 given to parents on the birth of a child under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) was claimed by the hospital staff as ‘token money’. Asked what action he would take against the health staff who demanded undue favours or bribe from patients, the Director said a strategy would be devised to counter the malpractice and strict action taken against the offenders. On whether criminal proceedings would be initiated against those responsible for the child’s death, Dr Karanjit Singh said that would be decided only after the probe panel formed to look into the incident submitted its report .
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New Terminal at Chandigarh Airport
Chandigarh, July 27 Sources said the new terminal would come up within two-and-a-half years, paving the way for handling 25 lakh passengers annually. The terminal, which would come up on an area of 40,000 sq metres, would be modelled on the Delhi airport’s T3 terminal. It would have an elevated road, which has already been constructed, to help passengers reach the departure area on the first floor. The exit would be on the ground floor. The terminal would have the facilities to handle 1,100 domestic and 500 international passengers at a point of time. The terminal would be equipped with three aerobridges in the first stage, the sources said. However, it is to be seen how soon work on the terminal starts with work on the airport’s apron at a standstill since three months because of non-availability or sand and gravel. General Manager, AAI , BK Kamra, when contacted, said the AAI had written to the Chief Secretaries of both Punjab and Haryana to normalise supply as well as maintain the average cost of sand and gravel being supplied to it.The supply of both sand and gravel has been affected due to the recent ban on mining along the rivers. Kamra said the AAI was hoping for an early resolution to the crisis which was holding up work on the apron. (An apron is an additional parking facility at airports.) The AAI official said efforts were on to start international flights from the Chandigarh airport’s present terminal that had already been declared a customs notified terminal with an immigration check post. He said Air-Arabia which had applied for starting a daily flight from Chandigarh to Sharjah had been declined permission for the same by the Ministry of
Defence. He said the Punjab Chief Secretary had taken up the matter with the MOD.
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Tough time ahead for paddy farmers
The district had so far received 57 per cent less rain as compared to last year. The district had received 230 mm rainfall during the previous monsoon season, while it was only 100 mm recorded so far. Farmers mostly depend on groundwater in the absence of proper rainfall during monsoon seasons. Less rainfall has also resulted in depletion of groundwater level in the area. This would affect the paddy production as the crop has been attacked by various diseases in view of less rainfall. District Agriculture Officer Kuldeep Singh Josan said in view of the weak monsoon, they were expecting about 57 per cent less rainfall this season. “After the monsoon season, crops are attacked by termites and other bacteria, which will affect the paddy production,” he said, adding that farmers would have to spend more on insecticides which would further reduce their profit margins. Josan said farmers in the region had been spending lakhs on installing submersible pumps or tubewells in their fields to draw groundwater to irrigate their fields. “But these are also non-functional as the state is facing acute power shortage and now the farmers are totally dependent on rain,” he said. He said they had been advising farmers to save water besides organizing camps and seminars for them to go in for diversification of crops, which required less water and gives better remuneration. “But, farmers in the region still do not want to change the crop pattern and going in for producing traditional crops like, wheat, paddy and maize,” he said.
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Capt allowed to go abroad
Chandigarh, July 27 In his petition, Amarinder asserted that he wanted to go abroad for 20 days from July 27 to August 15. Elaborating on the purpose of his visit, Amarinder said he was leading a 14-member delegation to study wildlife in the Republic of South Africa and any delay in the permission would defeat the purpose. He was booked by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau on September 11, 2008, at a police station in Mohali for cheating and other offences under sections 420, 458, 467, 471 and 120-B of the IPC and sections 7 and 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The case is currently pending trial at a Mohali court.
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Saini Case: NGO accuses govt
of dual policy on terrorism
Chandigarh, July 27 Responding to the allegations in an affidavit by Principal Secretary (Home) D.S. Bains that the NGO has a Facebook page where militants and radicals have been sharing their views, “Voices for Freedom” (the NGO) asserted that the government was blaming them for siding with the militants whereas they were pleading for clemency for the militants. In a reply placed before the Bench of Acting Chief Justice Jasbir Singh and Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain, the NGO said the government has accused them of justifying the assassination of Punjab’s former Chief Minister Beant Singh. “But, the top political bosses of the Government of Punjab, including the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister, were clamouring for his (assassin Davinder Pal Singh Bhullar) clemency and boasting about it on television that he should not be hanged, though for political reasons. “The respondents have taken the plea that the petitioner has supported Davinder Pal Singh Bhullar. Even the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister of the State of Punjab have pleaded for clemency for him. If the petitioners are sought to be blacklisted for their support to Bhullar, how does the Government explain the conduct of the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister? The affidavit of the Home Secretary by implication indicts his own political bosses,” the NGO asserted. Criticising the State, the NGO said it has conceded that it was aware of all the proceedings against
Saini. “Therefore, the question remains unanswered as to how in these circumstances when he was facing a criminal trial, he was promoted from post to post without following the procedure prescribed by the Supreme Court”. Going into the background of the matter, the petitioner had earlier contended: “On the basis of allegations that Saini is involved in the abduction and physical liquidation of three persons in 1994, this court referred the investigation against him to the CBI. “After a detailed investigation, it filed a report confirming the abduction and physical liquidation of three persons and accordingly, a chargesheet was filed and sanction was accorded by the competent authorities”.
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Majithia seeks renewable energy projects
New Delhi, July 27 Bikram Singh Majithia, Non-Conventional Energy Minister, Punjab, called on Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Dr Farooq Abdullah here today. Majitha said the Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA) had conducted a survey in the border districts of Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran, Ferozepur and Fazilka and identified 432 public buildings for installation of solar power plants. He said 9 MW rooftop power plants could be installed atop such buildings by 2015. — TNS
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Ex-DGPs allowed 2 gunmen
Chandigarh, July 27 Former DGPs KK Atri, DS Mangat, NPS Aulakh and SK Verma today met Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal at his residence and requested him to reconsider the decision. The Deputy CM directed that two security guards be attached with each of the officers as a temporary measure. He also ordered the setting up of a committee with ADGP (Security) Dinkar Gupta and ADGP (Intelligence) Hardeep Singh Dhillon as members to re-examine if the officers faced any threat to life and if they needed to be given a security cover. Sources said though at least 12 former DGPs “whose security cover had been withdrawn two days back” had won a reprieve, the government had decided to provide security to them only if need be. The Deputy CM reportedly made it clear that security was not a matter of right and that no officer could continue to enjoy police protection indefinitely without a valid reason. Sources said the government was thinking of giving security to senior officers for six months to a year post-retirement as was being done by the Centre. The sources said the government might take a decision on security cover for former legislators soon. An exercise to reassess the security cover to all VIPs in May this year had revealed that some former DGPs had 10 to 30 police personnel posted with them as security guards. The survey had shown that most of these personnel were working as drivers, man servants and even gardeners.
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Schools told to buy 3 utensils for
Rs 50!
Patiala, July 27 In a letter issued to the District Education Officers (DEOs) by the Punjab Director General of School Education (DGSE) on July 24, the school management committees have been asked to purchase all three utensils for Rs 50 per student. Interestingly, they have also been given the specifications of each item, which will certainly make the purchase a challenge. They have directed that the diameter and weight of the plate should be 300 mm and 300 gm, respectively. the diameter and weight of glass should be 70 mm and 100 gm, respectively. The spoon should be 140 mm long and should weigh 30 gm. The minimum cost of 1-kg steel is about Rs 180 and if one calculates the cost of 430 gm steel alone, it comes out to be around Rs 77. A teacher said he went to almost 10 shops today to enquire about the rates and the minimum cost he could find for 280 gm plate was Rs 47, glass for Rs 20 and spoon for Rs 7. “A shopkeeper said he can give a discount of Rs 2 each on a plate and spoon in case I purchase in bulk but then again, the amount comes out to be Rs 70,” he said. Another teacher said it was highly unjustified to put up conditions like this for the purchase. “Steel is very expensive these days and if the department wants proper quality, they should themselves buy the utensils and supply the same to the schools rather than fixing our accountability,” she said. DGSE Kahan Singh Pannu said though they had asked the committees to purchase three utensils earlier, but he had been informed that glasses were already available in the schools. “Therefore, we have now asked them to purchase only the plates and spoons and the cost of which will come out to be Rs 50,” he added.
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Now on, free neo-natal care
Chandigarh, July 27 No admission fee, ambulance charges, anaesthesia charges or fee for services under the categories of radiology, laboratory investigation, clinical pathology, microbiology, biochemistry and blood transfusion will be levied in government hospitals.
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Ban on pressure horns demanded
Patiala, July 27 Dr DS Bhullar, secretary general of the society, said, “Noise pollution has multiple health hazards on human body and mind, including temporary or permanent deafness, irritable behaviour, high blood pressure, rise in intracranial pressure and many other ill effects on human health.” He said in spite of the Noise Pollution (Regulation & Control) Rules, 2000, made under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, of the country which prescribes the level of the noise tolerance in residential, commercial, industrial areas and silent zones around hospitals, educational institutions and courts, and the order of the Supreme Court of India dated July 18, 2005, which has banned noise from all sources during night hours, the problem of noise pollution was going on unchecked all around without any efforts being made by people as well as authorities concerned to check the same. Under the rules, a noise above the permissible level of 85 decibells for human beings is illegal and the violators can be imprisoned with six months of jail or fine up to Rs 1,000 or both. “The law needs to be properly implemented in public interest,” he added. Acting on a complaint by the society, the Punjab Pollution Control Board has already directed the district administration to take immediate and necessary action to stop use of pressure horns within 100-metre radius around the hospitals, educational institutions, courts and other silent zones declared under the rules. Dr Bhullar says that so far no visible action has been taken in this regard, evident from the fact that hundreds of heavy vehicles, including buses and trucks can be seen passing on the road in front of Rajindra Hospital and Government Medical College in Patiala, openly violating the noise pollution norms by unabated use of pressure horns and without caring for hundreds of patients in the hospital.
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Role of cops near Haryana border under scanner
Fatehgarh Sahib, July 27 Swarn Singh, a relative of notorious smuggler Tej Partap Singh alias Tabu, who was recently arrested, revealed during his police interrogation that smuggling was going on in connivance with police officials posted at the borders of the two states. The police has recovered 2-kg narcotic powder and 85-gram smack from the possession of Swarn. Swarn came to the office of the CIA, Mandi Gobindgarh, and offered Rs 3 lakh to SHO Gurmeet Singh to help Tabu in getting bail. The SHO immediately brought the matter to the notice of his seniors and Swarn was booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Earlier, the police had arrested Manoj Kumar and Babu Kumar from Patiala at a naka and seized 175-gram smack from their possession. The two had disclosed that they purchased the consignment from Tabu of Saplani Kala area of Kurukshetra district. After this, the police arrested Tabu on June 25. Tabu, who had been running a drug racket for the past five years, had also confessed that he had been caught earlier, but escaped arrest by bribing police officials posted at borders. The accused is facing six cases of narcotic smuggling in Punjab and Haryana. He supplied smack in Patiala, Fatehgarh Sahib, Amloh, Gobindgarh and Samrala areas through his couriers. Senior Superintendent of Police Mandip Singh Sidhu has formed a special team to zero in on the policemen who helped Tabu and his accomplices escape arrest after taking money. The SSP will investigate the role of these policemen and submit a report to Punjab DGP Sumedh Singh Saini for action in this regard. The SSP said a case had already been registered against the accused and further investigations were on. He however, said that the till date the police has not recovered any arms from the possession of the accused. He said that investigation in the case were still on and were hoping the accomplices of Tabu who were active in the state.
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Vigilance chief talks tough on corruption
Patiala, July 27 Later, speaking to mediapersons, Arora said the VB would continue its tirade against corruption. “We will surely conduct raids and ensure that corruption is checked at all levels,” he said. Patiala Welfare Society president Satbir Singh Khatra said that the society would ensure 50,000 plants this year and it was indeed important to save as many trees as possible for the preservation of the climate. — TNS
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Kamaljit moves HC, wants Bibi’s sentence enhanced
Chandigarh, July 27 Kamaljit Singh claims that he was Harpreet's husband. Bibi, her personal security guard Nishan Singh and others have been sentenced to five years’ in prioson for offences ranging from “causing miscarriage without the woman's consent” to criminal conspiracy. Taking up his petition, the High Court fixed August 21 as the next date of hearing. His plea will now be heard along with the bail application of Bibi Jagir Kaur. Kamaljit Singh submitted that the sentence awarded to Bibi by the Trial Court was insufficient and the same should be enhanced. Jagir Kaur is at present lodged in the Kaurthala jail. The Trial Court had held: “The prosecution has been able to prove that accused Dalwinder Kaur Dhesi, Paramjit Singh Raipur and Nishan Singh abducted Harpreet Kaur, who was a major, by deceitful means?.” Dhesi was Bibi’s “trusted friend” and related to Paramjit Singh Raipur, Bibi’s political confidant. The court had also held: “A conspiracy was hatched with accused Bibi Jagir Kaur for terminating Harpreet’s pregnancy. However, because Bibi’s status was to be safeguarded at all costs, the latter distanced herself from the process of executing the conspiracy and accused Dalwinder Kaur Dheshi, Paramjit Singh Raipur and Nishan Singh, along with approver Dr Balwinder Singh Sohal, took upon themselves to accomplish the object of conspiracy by keeping Bibi Jagir Kaur informed of developments from time to time.”
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Dera chief made respondent
Chandigarh, July 27 The court also issued a notice for October 10 on an application for the medical examination of petitioner Hans Raj Chauhan and seven other sadhus. In his petition filed through counsel Navkiran Singh, petitioner Chauhan of Fatehabad district alleged that the victims were castrated on the false hope that “ males who would get themselves castrated would be able to achieve God through Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh”. He also sought compensation for himself and “such-like sadhus who have been rendered impotent and are unable to procreate”. Directions have also been sought for providing adequate security to the petitioner and his parents. Navkiran Singh said the petitioner had faced hormonal imbalance because of castration. He had lost body hair and developed breasts. “The petitioner has become incapable of having children and he has to face humiliation at the hands of the general public, that treats him as eunuch”. He said 100 of the 400 castrated sadhus were being used to protect Gurmeet Ram Rahim’s family.
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Wanted conman held in Lambi
Muktsar, July 27 Surinder Kumar, a resident of Kotli road, Muktsar, landed in the police net after one Dr Sukhpal Singh of Dabwali lodged a police complaint stating that yesterday, an unknown man called him to lend Rs 9,200 to settle a road mishap dispute. “The complainant was aware that in the past, a cheater had duped some gullible people in the area by using the same scheme. He informed us and we caught him,” said Lambi SHO Gurpreet Singh. Gurpreet said, “The accused first collected all the information about his potential victim. He used to pose as the son of one Surjit Singh, a government schoolteacher at Kheowali village, and then asked for immediate monetary help. He used to narrate a cooked up story that his one-and-a-half years old son and wife were in trouble as some people had held them hostage after his motorcycle accidentally hit a vehicle on the Malout-Lambi road. He used to ask for money to settle the dispute so that he does not have to go to jail due to the road mishap, which never took place.” — TNS
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Sportsman turns snatcher, held
Bathinda, July 27 Gagandeep (35), who belongs to a middle class family residing in Model Town Phase-1, has a Certificate in Physical Education from the Kurukshetra University. Unable to get any employment after completing the certificate course, he apparently decided to put his physical fitness to use and opted for snatchings. He also allegedly got hooked to various habit-forming substances. Kotwali SHO, Jaspal Singh, said the accused started snatching bags from people putside the State Bank of Patiala (SBoP). Elaborating on Gagandeep’s modus operandi, Singh said he used to keep a watch on women withdrawing money from the bank and used to chase them on his bike and snatch their bags away. Narrating the incident which led to his arrest, Singh said on July 20, Paramjit Kaur had withdrawn `3.5 lakh from the Civil Lines branch of the SBoP. She was accompanied by her nephew who stepped out of the car to buy stationary from a book store. Losing no time, Gagandeep inched closer to the car, opened the driver’s door and sped away after snatching Paramjit’s bag. A case was registered in this regard at the Kotwali police station.
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Despite the seizure of contraband by BSF personnel in the last one year, the menace of drugs has touched Kafkaesque proportions in Gurdaspur district that has a long and porous international border.
Sources say if 1 kg of narcotics is seized, at least 20 kg of the drug goes undetected and is sold in the streets.
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said dairy farming would be promoted in a big way in the Kandi area of Punjab.
Chandigarh, July 27
Chandigarh, July 27
Fatehgarh Sahib, July 27