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Protesters let off steam on railway tracks
Security up as traders
threaten to gherao CM
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Narcotic Bureau alerts government
Info on panchayat accounts now a click away
NREGA: Fiscally empowered women walk chin up
Sukhbir vows to revive hockey
Govt to focus on raising milk production
Adarsh School scheme revamped
Bridge over Sutlej brings relief for border villages
TET teachers gear up for August 19 protest
‘Telecast SGPC meetings’
PTU churning out ‘unemployable’ postgrads
Cricket stadium yet to get off the mark
HC rejects petition on retirement order
Husband strangulates wife to death
Six arrested for possessing drugs
Five held for drug peddling
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Protesters let off steam on railway tracks
Patiala, August 12 Amidst raising of slogans against the state government, the protesters squatted on tracks near the local railway station from 7 am to 9 am. It was only after repeated requests by district administration officials that the protesters lifted the blockade. Addressing the protesters, Punjab Pradesh Beopar Mandal vice-president Nirmal Malhotra said if the state government did not pay heed to their demands, they would resort to hunger strike. Malhotra said they may even gherao Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, who would be in Patiala on August 15 for a state-level Independence Day function. "But, final decision on this will be taken by Patiala Beopar Bachao Sangharsh Committee tomorrow," he said. Speaking to The Tribune, the affected shopkeepers said they will disrupt the Independence Day function in case justice was denied to them. "The state government should devise some mechanism to see that hundreds of shopkeepers do not loose their livelihood," said committee representative Rakesh Gupta. The shopkeepers also expressed resentment against the BJP leadership for failing to come to their rescue. "The BJP, which associates itself with urban voters, particularly the trading community, has cheated us. Not even a single leader has turned up to listen to our demands," said Rohit Bansal, a shopkeeper. The protesters claimed that BJP's Patiala district president Arun Gupta, Senior Deputy Mayor Anil Bajaj and several other party leaders had not bothered to meet them and discuss the matter. "The apathetic attitude of the BJP towards our grievances has exposed its opportunistic approach," another shopkeeper said. The protesters also announced that they would stage a dharna on the Rajpura bypass road tomorrow. Why the protest The Punjab and Haryana High Court recently ordered the sealing of all commercial establishments that were operating from residential areas in 36 Town Planning Schemes in Patiala. The high court had ordered the Municipal Corporation to identify all such properties with unsanctioned building plans by August 14 and serve a three-day notice on the owners. The court had also instructed the civic body to submit a compliance report on August 22 after sealing all such buildings. Unfruitful
meeting Representatives of the affected shopkeepers along with Patiala Municipal Commissioner GS Sidhu, Mayor Ajit Pal Singh Kohli, ADC (Development) Anandita Mitra and other district administration officials met Principal Secretary (Department of Local Government) Suresh Kumar in Chandigarh on Sunday to discuss the matter. Kohli said Kumar told them that the state government could not intervene as the sealing orders had been issued by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. A few shopkeepers claimed that the meeting was inconclusive.
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Security up as traders
threaten to gherao CM
Patiala, August 12 Members of the Patiala Beopar Bachao Sangharsh Committee have threatened to gherao the Chief Minister in case the state government failed to stop the sealing of illegal commercial establishments operating from residential areas in the city. Senior Superintendent of Police Gurpreet Singh Gill said, "The protesting traders can meet the Chief Minister after the function gets over. They should form a committee and make a representation before the Chief Minister." Apart from deploying additional personnel at entry points to the city, the police has increased patrolling during night hours. Badal is expected to return from the US tomorrow and will be hoisting the Tricolour during a function to be held at Yadavindra Public School stadium. A senior police official said SHO-level officers had been told to ensure that no unidentified person stays in any hotel or guest house in the city. He said nakas had been laid on the roads leading to the Independence Day function venue, with policemen manning the road round-the-clock. Police and paramilitary personnel have been deployed at all strategic points around the stadium and in the city.
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Narcotic Bureau alerts government
Ludhiana, August 12 The Home Department, Punjab, has sent a letter to all Deputy Commissioners, asking them to look into the matter and report back. Rahul Tiwari, Deputy Commissioner, Ludhiana, said: "We have been instructed to destroy the crop (cannabis) and register a criminal case against the growers.” Orders have also been issued to the Police Commissioner, the SSPs, the Chief Agricultural Officer and all SDMs to look into the matter. Drug addiction has assumed alarming proportions in the state. Health Risks Galore
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Info on panchayat accounts now a click away
Chandigarh, August 12 Panchayat members indulging in bungling, if any, can be easily held accountable for their actions with the help of the software. It allows immediate checking of all expenditure made by panchayat members on various development works. Prepared by the Union Government in collaboration with NIC (a software manufacturing firm), the software links rural development headquarters here with district, block and panchayat-level offices. Rural Development and Panchayat Minister Surjit Singh Rakhra said the often secretive manner in which a panchayat spent money available to it was the reason behind most discords in rural areas. "Once we remove the basis for this discord and make all expenditure online, pricing listed by the panchayat on say bricks, cement or mortar can be checked immediately," he said. As panchayats were bound to list all their tasks under the new system, pressure could be built upon them to complete various works in a time-bound manner, he said. Rakhra said anyone could access the system and give suggestions. The minister said the system generated vouchers for all expenditure incurred by panchayats. He said more than a lakh vouchers had already been generated by the system, which could be checked online. Giving details of how the system was being put into effect, Financial Commissioner (Rural Development) JS Sandhu said every group of 50 panchayats had been given data entry operators and computer systems. He said the system had 12 applications, including a national panchayat portal, which allowed each panchayat to make its own website. He said the information on the system was interlinked and that anyone could search for information on any particular village. Sandhu said the system also had a data base of various functionaries, including a list of all 12,776 sarpanches. He said a profile of health, education and infrastructure and transport facilities available in various areas had also been prepared. Another unique feature of the system was that unique identities of panchayat had been marked on a GIS map. Another programme allowed weekly and fortnightly monitoring of panchayats and block and district offices from the headquarters. Rakhra said more professional experts were being roped in to streamline panchayat functioning. He said this included expert help to audit panchayat accounts and training of panchayat-level functionaries at block level to further improve their functioning. About the software
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NREGA: Fiscally empowered women walk chin up
Gurdaspur, August 12 Under the Act, women are paid Rs 166 for a day’s work. This has changed the way women look at life, says the village sarpanch. The women have opened bank accounts at post offices near their homes where wages are credited to their accounts.Deputy Commissioner Abhinav Trikha said: “A clear message has been to village panchayats that the scheme must be implemented in letter and spirit. We have told them that if men are unwilling to work, bring in women who need employment.” The Deputy Commisioner said hundreds of Dalit women had responded favourably to the scheme. They had been issued job cards. He said for the first time women were given work to fill road berms with earth. “We are providing jobs to these women under all the nine developmental works that fall under MGNREGA,” Trikha said. Sheela Devi, who plants saplings at Hayat Nagar village, said: “Now, we are no longer dependent on our menfolk who do not like to work under NREGA because working for big contractors ensures them better wages.”Sheela is 60, but brims with an exuberance of a 20-year-old. This is because she has saved enough money to purchase a TV set. “These women have moved from working as farmhand with rich land owners to public works, which is more respectable” said an official. However, another official said that the scheme should have focused on individuals and not households. “As the Act promises 100 days' work for every rural household, the bank accounts are in the name of
families. Moreover, there are complaints that wages deposited in a bank account collectively for a household are taken away by the head of the family.” Women like Sheela Devi and Rita agree with him. Nevertheless. they are happy with the overall benefits of the scheme.
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Sukhbir vows to revive hockey
Chandigarh, August 12 The Deputy CM, who visited hockey stadiums in London during his visit there, said he was hurt by the lacklustre performance of the Indian hockey team at the Olympics. In a statement from London, Sukhbir said : “We we have to understand that competition in every game has become intense and players would have to move two steps ahead of every country to survive.” The Deputy CM, who is also president of Punjab hockey, said he was committed to restoring Punjab’s glory in this discipline. Sukhbir, who met President, International Hockey Federation, said the country would have to focus on speed, stamina and technical up-gradation of players to compete with European teams. “We have already constructed seven hockey stadiums with world-class astroturfs and seven more would be added in the next three years ”. He said the upcoming Mohali hockey stadium would be provided blue and pink astroturf used for the London Olympics and he was committed to providing infrastructure facilities to the players for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
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Khaira: Parole to Bibi against rules
Jalandhar, August 12 In a press note issued here today, Khaira alleged that “the parole given to convict Bibi Jagir Kaur is in gross violation of the Punjab Good Conduct Prisoners (Temporary Release) Act, 1962.” Khaira said “Section 3 (1) (a) (b) (c) and (d) of the Act stated that the state government may release temporarily any prisoner if it is satisfied that a member of the prisoner’s family has died or is seriously ill, or the marriage of the prisoner’s son or daughter is to be celebrated or the temporary release of the prisoner is necessary for ploughing, sowing or harvesting or carrying on any other agricultural operation on his land or it is desirable to do so for any other sufficient cause.” The former Bholath MLA alleged the the only motive behind granting parole to Bibi was to allow her to “manipulate” the elections to the office-bearers of the Nagar Panchayats of Begowal, Bholath and Dhilwan. The elections were held on August 9.Earlier, elections to these Nagar Panchayats on August 3 were postponed on frivolous grounds, he said. He alleged that under pressure from the CM, the jail authorities had flouted norms in granting Bibi parole so that she could have her “henchmen” elected to these posts. Her political agenda met, she was now contemplating surrendering her parole lest the parole violation affected her bail plea to be heard by the High Court on August 21, he added. He urged the government to declare the elections held on August 9 as “null and void”.
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BJP Yuva Morcha holds anti-graft rally
Lehragaga (Sangrur), August 12 Mittal alleged that ousting the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre was necessary for removal of poverty, corruption and unemployment and to bring black money back from foreign countries. He also asked the youth to fight against corruption and unemployment in a united manner. The minister was addressing a Yuva Morcha rally here. Five more such rallies by the Yuva Morcha's Punjab unit will be organised in Bathinda, Ludhiana, Phagwara, Amritsar and Pathankot till September 5.
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Govt to focus on raising milk production
Chandigarh, August 12 Milkfed, the cooperative that runs the milk plants and collects milk from members at fixed rates, is keen to reduce the handling costs. These have increased to Rs 6.50 per litre and costs can be brought down only if the milk plants have mechanised milk handling
facilities. Milkfed has decided to take up a state-wide project under which emphasis will be on improved breeding, cattlefeed and strengthening of the frozen semen station at
Khanna. The cooperative will spend Rs 125 crore on this project in the 12th Five-Year-Plan with the programme being implemented at the Milk Shed Union, Ludhiana, this year. The cooperative’s managing director, Dr BS
Sidhu, said that NABARD would fund a new high-tech milk plant at Verka in
Amritsar, upgrade the milk plant at Jalandhar and upgrade the capacity of the ice cream plant at Chandigarh. He said these initiatives would cost Rs 165 crore and NABARD would provide Rs 50 crore for the purpose during this financial year. The milk handling capacity of the plant at Mohali will be increased from 3,00,000 to five 5,00,000 litres per day. The task is being entrusted to the National Dairy Development Board
(NDDB) on a turn-key basis. Estimated to cost Rs 39.52 crore, the project is likely to be completed by March, 2014. To make quality cattlefeed available to milch animals under its overall strategy to boost milk production, the installed capacity of Milkfed’s cattlefeed plants at Khanna and Ghania-ke-Banger is being increased from 300 tonnes to 500 tonnes per day at a cost of Rs 12 crore. The work has been allotted to the NDDB and is expected to be completed by June next year. The Milkfed MD said the frozen semen station at Khanna was being strengthened and its capacity increased to 10 lakh doses of frozen semen annually from the existing five lakh doses. The NDDB wpuld undertake thes work at a cost of Rs 5
crore. Milkfed operates nine milk plants in Punjab and one in Chandigarh. These milk plants have an installed milk handling capacity of 17.25 lakh litres per day. During 2011-12, Milkfed procured on an average 11.46 lakh kg of milk per day. Dr Sidhu said as of now, Milkfed was paying milk producers 80-82 per cent realisation from the sale of milk and milk products. He said the payback in the case of Amul was 85 per cent. Milkfed would strive hard to achieve this level in the near future, he added. Milky Way
About
Milkfed
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Adarsh School scheme revamped
Bathinda, August 12 “The land will be given on lease. The scheme will have several riders like adequate salary to teachers and good results. If these conditions are violated, the lease will be withdrawn,” he says. These schools will have 25 per cent students from weaker sections, who will be taught free of cost. These students will be picked by the area
SDM. The schools will have to construct their own buildings. The government was yet to decide on the maximum financial aid to be given to these schools. Punjab has 42 Adarsh Schools in rural areas. These were opened during the
SAD-BJP’s earlier tenure. There were complaints that many such schools, in order to get government grant, were showing “fictitious” students. Also, the teachers were not being paid enough.
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Bridge over Sutlej brings relief for border villages
Ferozepur, August 12 The bridge will connect these villages with the mainland. In absence of any permanent bridge in the area, the residents of these villages, including
Tindiwala, Chandiwala, Jalloke, Rahim Ke, Bhakara and Kaluwala, were forced to commute across the Sutlej though boats. The situation used to worsen in monsoon when the swollen Sutlej used to cut off these villages from other parts of district. Even temporary pontoon bridges built by the BSF are removed every year ahead of the monsoon in apprehension of floods. Taking stock of the ongoing construction of the bridge today, Ferozepur MLA Parminder Singh Pinki said the bridge will ease the lives of the residents of border villages. The bridge is likely to incur a cost of Rs 2 crore.
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548 challaned for smoking at public
Sangrur, August 12 In 2011, 130 violators were challaned in the district and an amount of Rs 6,245 collected as fine. Apart from issuing
challans, the state government has directed various departments to put up boards with the message "No tobacco zone, smoking is a crime here" in their offices. District Nodal Officer (Tobacco Control) Dr Surinder Singla said the administration was committed to obtain smoking-free status as early as possible. He said Deputy Commissioner Rahul Kumar had directed the heads of various departments, including education, health, transport, agriculture, electricity and cooperative, to put up "No smoking zone" boards and strictly implement provisions of the Tobacco Control Act. The Overhaul
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TET teachers gear up for August 19 protest
Sangrur, August 12 The protesters also blocked traffic for some time at the Traffic Lights Chowk near Sangrur bus stand. The union also announced that they would hold a mega rally in Ludhiana on August 19. Earlier, they gathered at local Banasar Bagh and then took out a protest march through various markets, raising slogans against the state government. Union's district president Gurjant Singh said a meeting between Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and their representatives was held in Chandigarh on July 16. He claimed that Badal had assured the union of advertising 5,000 posts of master cadre within a week. But the same had not been advertised so far, due to which there was resentment among the teachers, he said.
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‘Telecast SGPC meetings’
Jalandhar, August 11 He said two members of the SGPC executive committee, Bhajan Singh Shergil and Mangal Singh, had not been allowed to register their dissent during the August 3 meeting. Alleging that the SGPC executive had passed the budget against all norms, Ravi Inder said that Section 119 (1) and (2) of the Gurdwara Act clearly stated that the budget could only be passed by SGPC general house.
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PTU churning out ‘unemployable’ postgrads
Bathinda, August 12 The MBA HRM pass-outs are left behind in the recruitment process for the labour welfare officers whose deployment is mandatory in every factory that has 500 to 2000 workers. Labour welfare officers are required to maintain harmonious relations between the factory management and workers, especially in times of labour unrest. While Bathinda has only one such unit namely, Guru Gobind Singh Refinery, there are many such factories in the industrial hubs of Ludhiana. "I applied at one of the cycle factories in Ludhiana for the post of welfare officer. I was shocked when my candidature was declared invalid as the PTU is not in the list of institutes under the Factories Act 1948, from where students can be employed as welfare officers," revealed a student from Bathinda. The student now plans to do an MBA in HRM from an institute included in the list. Due to lack of adequate number of candidates from the PTU, the students of Panjab University, Chandigarh, Punjabi University, Patiala, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar and a Chandigarh-based institute get these jobs easily. With more number of MBA HRM colleges opening under the PTU, the university is preparing a new brigade of unemployable youngsters. The PTU's Giani Zail Singh Campus, which has been declared a constituent college of the varsity, is set to start a course in MBA HRM from this academic session. Meanwhile, Additional Director, Factories, Sodhi Mal said it is the responsibility of varsity to write to the state government requesting that its name be included in the list. However, Dean, Academics, Punjab Technical University, Dr Buta Singh said he will take up the matter and write to the Punjab government for inclusion of the varsity in the list mentioned in the Factories Act, 1948.
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Cricket stadium yet to get off the mark
Bathinda, August 12 Caught in legal complications and due to lack of coordination between the different executing agencies, the project has not seen even a brick being added ever since its foundation was laid on December 8, 2007, on the occasion of the CM's birthday. Mounds of earth and weeds dot the 25 acres of land for the project which was supposed to be completed within two years and host international matches. The stadium was to come up on the land of Punjab Agriculture University (PAU) Regional Research Centre at village Jodhpur Romana, which was transferred in the name of the Punjab government soon after the foundation stone was laid. With the transfer of the land, the pending litigations were also transferred in the name of the Punjab government. "There were 27 cases pending against the government wherein some people had claimed the ownership of land. Of these 27, only five cases remain to be disposed while the rest have been awarded compensation as per the instructions of the court," said an official of the district sports department, Bathinda. Bathinda District Cricket Association (BDCA) president OD Sharma said that as per the main agreement, the Punjab government was to seek the help of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) of which the BDCA is a part. But no such help was sought. In the meantime, the Punjab government had handed over the project to the Punjab Infrastructure Development Board (PIDB) for execution. The PIDB further invited tenders from private firms and the work was awarded to a Delhi-based firm. However, further details of the project remained vague within the department itself. Meanwhile, the BDCA had requested the Bathinda Development Authority (BDA) to lay a pitch so that players can at least start practicing. With the laying of astroturf for hockey at the Government Rajindra College in Bathinda, the playgrounds there have become redundant for use in cricket. "There is no place left for the cricketers to practice. So, we requested the local MLA to take up matter and get at least a pitch laid at the stadium where the cricket players could practice," he added. Confirming this, BDA chief administrator Uma Shankar Gupta said an estimate of Rs 16 lakh has been passed and the work on the pitch is expected to begin after August 15. Fact file
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HC rejects petition on retirement order
Chandigarh, August 12 Describing the contention as “totally misplaced”, a Division Bench of the High Court has ruled: “The sting of adverse remarks against integrity is not removed ipso facto by the subsequent unblemished report(s)”. The Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice R.P. Nagrath added that the competent authority was well within its right to consider and rely upon “such adverse material” against an officer, while considering the issue of retention in service after a particular age or length of service. In his petition against the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Randhir Singh had earlier sought directions for quashing the order dated August 10, 2005, whereby he was compulsorily retired from service by the Government of Haryana on the High Court’s recommendations. Levelling allegations of animus against a High Court Judge, he had added that the adverse report for 1997-98 was “tainted with mala fide exercise of powers by the then Administrative Judge”. He had added that the then Administrative Judge “had an axe to grind” against him “as is established from several instances of improper favours unsuccessfully sought from the petitioner”. Randhir Singh had also claimed that he possessed unblemished record throughout his service career, but for the single report under challenge. In its detailed order, the Bench declined to consider or express its views on the allegations of animus against the then Administrative Judge, “whom the petitioner has not chosen to implead as a party respondent….” The Bench also rejected his contention that the doubtful integrity remarks must always be supported with cogent material. The Bench said it had no factual or legal basis, as the Administrative Judge, to assess the overall reputation of a Judicial Officer who interacts with the litigant public, the Bar, other respectables. Dismissing the petition, the Bench added: “It is not necessary that the Judicial Officer would always leave a trail of evidence to be caught by the Administrative Judge…. While the material may remove all sorts of doubts, there is no legal impediment against expression of views on the integrity or honesty of an officer even in the absence of supporting proof”.
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Husband strangulates wife to death
Moga, August 12 The police recovered the dead body of the woman from her house and sent it for a post-mortem examination to the district hospital on Sunday. The report confirmed that she died of strangulation. The body was later handed over to the deceased’s parents for cremation. According to the police, the deceased woman was identified as Sukhwinder Kaur hailing from Deepgarh village of Barnala
district. She was married to Swaranjit Singh of Lopo village in Moga district, eight years ago. Bhupinder Singh, the brother of the deceased in a statement recorded with the police said that when he and his mother had gone to meet Sukhwinder at her residence, they saw Swaranjit quarreling with his sister. It said that Swaranjit later strangulated Sukhwinder
to death. The police said that a case of murder was registered against the absconding husband and investigations were still in progress.
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Six arrested for possessing drugs
Patiala, August 12 Police has recovered a total of 225 grams of smack from five out of the six persons. Cases have been registered against all six of them. All of the accused are being questioned to find out who supplied them with the drugs. Those arrested for possessing smack wereLakhwinder Singh, Amanpreet Singh, Avtar Singh, Paramjit Singh and Manoj. The person who
possessed 2 kg of poppy husk was one Mohan Singh whom the police is also questioning.
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Five held for drug peddling
Bathinda, August 12 A case under the NDPS Act has been registered against the accused at Maur police station.
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Patiala, August 12
Police has beefed up security arrangements in the city in view of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal's visit to Patiala on August 15 for the state-level Independence Day function.
Chandigarh, August 12
For the last five years, the dream project of the chief minister, constructing an international cricket stadium and cricket academy is hanging fire.
Caught in legal complications and due to lack of coordination between the different executing agencies, the project has not seen even a brick being added ever since its foundation was laid on December 8, 2007, on the occasion of the CM's birthday.
After the Director-General Punjab Police Sumedh Singh Saini and Additional DGP (Prisons) RP Meena recently expressed concern at the increasing drug menace in the state, it is now the Narcotic Control Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs, that has written to the police department on the illegal cultivation of cannabis in certain districts of the state.
Besides implementing the National Dairy Plan, the state is also focussing on milk plants and the entire cooperative movement so that it may be geared up to handle the increased milk production on account of stress on improved breeding and the coming up of model dairy
farms.
The government has decided to revamp the Adarsh School scheme. All Adarsh Schools will now be allotted five acres of land instead of 10 acres as decided earlier, says Education Minister SS
Maluka.
All these challans were issued for smoking at public places like bus stands, railway stations, cinema halls, hospitals and educational institutions for violating the Tobacco Control Act. Of the 548
challans, 192 were issued in June alone and Rs 15,580 was collected as fine. In July, the count stood at 117 while the penalty summed up to Rs 11,930. The May total, however, was a bit low at 82
challans.
Every year, the only technical university in the state- Punjab Technical University (PTU) — is churning out hundreds of "unemployable" post-graduates in MBA HRM (human resource management) who cannot be employed as welfare officers in factories as per the Factories Act 1948.