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Compulsive drug peddlers worry cops
Barnala publisher in police custody
Probe welfare scheme fraud, says Jakhar
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Cops defuse dera row
RTI reveals cancer cases higher in state
Protest over sect leader’s congregation
Brick kiln owners decide not to pay hiked tax
Fazilka gets its first legal aid clinic
Abohar teachers gear up for PU senate polls
Four-laning of F’pur-Hussainiwala stretch gets the nod
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Compulsive drug peddlers worry cops
Bathinda, September 16 Pala Singh alias Bhau of Vattu village in Muktsar was caught with three kg of opium worth Rs 2 lakh in Kotkapura last week. The arrest is no big deal for him. He has been through this nine times earlier. Barely 25 days ago, he was released on bail from the Jhalawar Jail in Rajasthan in a case of narcotic smuggling. These two drug smugglers are among hundreds of their like who are active in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan and seem to have made narcotic smuggling their permanent vocation. Call it no fear of the police and jail or the high margin of profit in smuggling drugs, the majority of narcotic smugglers active in the region are returning to the crime even after they were caught and jailed several times. These recidivists – persons who commit crime again and again — do not seem to be interested in making an honest living. The government too does not seem to have any solution other than catching them time and again. The jails, said to be reform houses, only make them smarter and hardened criminals. “Recidivism among criminals, especially narcotic smugglers, is the biggest headache for the police of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan,” said a senior police official not wishing to be quoted. He said no state had an effective policy to rehabilitate them. Interestingly, the governments do have policies and schemes to rehabilitate militants but no effective mechanism is in place for smugglers. The IG (Counter Intelligence), Bathinda zone, Jatinder Jain, said the smugglers return to the crime as they were lured by huge profit margins. “Even if we try to encourage them to live honestly, money lures them back to the illegal trade. A criminal invests Rs 20,000 to buy opium in Rajasthan and sells it for more than Rs 2 lakh in Punjab.” Another such recidivist, Mehnga Singh of Malkana Villa in Samana, was nabbed near Doomwali, an inter-state excise tax barrier on the Punjab-Haryana border, last week. The IG (Counter Intelligence) said the accused paid Rs 2 lakh as tax on transportation of 230 bags of animal feed into Punjab. Out of those, 30 bags contained poppy husk worth Rs 12 lakh. Jain said Mehnga Singh was currently out on bail in a poppy husk smuggling case. Another group of counter-intelligence nabbed Sukhminder Singh alias Muddi and Pala Singh alia Bhau with three kg of opium from near
Kotkapura. They were bringing the contraband in an improvised space under the seat of a motorcycle. Jain said Sukhminder Singh was already facing three cases of narcotic smuggling and was out on bail. Pala Singh had as many as nine cases registered against him — four in Muktsar, three in Faridkot and one each in Moga and Rajasthan. “The police is compiling a list of such habitual criminals and every legal remedy would be taken to reform them or ensure they do not get bail easily,” said another police officer. Five years ago, the state police had launched a massive crackdown on persons providing fake bail bonds in the courts so as to get such criminals released. Though the crackdown proved fruitful, it got involved in so many legal tangles that it could not be continued. |
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Barnala publisher in police custody
Barnala, September 16 As per the to information, the Barnala police yesterday registered a case under Sections 153-A, 501,505 of the IPC and Section 3 (X) SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against the publisher of the book “Vishav Bharati Parkashan”, the editor of the book Jagjit Singh Sahoke and the printer of the book. However, Amit Mittar and Jagjit Singh Sahoke were taken in custody by the Barnala police last evening. As per information, the book “Gatha Surmeyan Di”, edited by Sahoke, contains writings of a famous writer Babu Rajab Ali. The case has been registered as some objectionable words against the Dalit community have reportedly been used in the book by the writer.
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Probe welfare scheme fraud, says Jakhar
Abohar, September 16 Jakhar said after going through the fact-finding report, he was convinced about the blatant abuse of banking channels that occurred by collecting third party cheques (without an account with the bank) of different beneficiaries of social welfare schemes of Punjab Government and paid in cash to the District Welfare Officer. The said report was submitted to the bank management on February 16 this year. Asking for a high-level probe, he questioned why a FIR in the case has not been lodged till date with the police by the bank management as is mandated by Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Jakhar said it needs to be probed whether the Board of Directors of the Punjab & Sind Bank was informed about the fraud? The CLP leader said he has been told that the matter was brought to the notice of Chief Vigilance Officer, Punjab & Sind Bank But he too did not take the mandatory action against the culprits. Therefore, the role of the CVO in the Punjab & Sind Bank also needs to be investigated, he added. Referring to the RBI master circular on frauds in public sector banks, Jakhar said where the amount involved is more than Rs 1 crore, the investigation is assigned to the CBI. But in this case, keeping in view the gross misuse of the banking channels to embezzle funds meant for the deprived section of society, inquiry must be handed over to the CBI.
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Bathinda, September 16 Heavy police force was rushed to the site and managed to control the tension between the dera followers and Sikh groups who were against the follower's move. The land belonged to Bareta Municipal Council. SSP Mansa Narinder Bhargav said the situation was in control. — TNS
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RTI reveals cancer cases higher in state
Faridkot, September 16 While the health department claimed detecting 5,276 cancer patients in Punjab, the information procured under the RTI by a voluntary organization, Bhai Kanhaiya Cancer Roko Sewa Society in Faridkot, revealed that as many as 6,434 cancer patients were presently receiving treatment at just two government medical colleges in Punjab. While there are other government, private, charitable hospitals in and outside Punjab from where the patients from the state are receiving treatment, summing up the cancer cases to just 5,276 by the health department in Punjab is a wrong assessment of the problem, said Gurpreet Singh Chandbaja, the president of the society. In the information tabled in the Vidhan Sabha, the health department claimed there were 147 cancer patients in Faridkot. But the information procured under the RTI revealed that 865 cancer patients of Faridkot were receiving treatment at Guru Gobind Singh Medical College (GGSMC) in Faridkot. And 172 of the patients in Faridkot were receiving treatment at the Government Medical College in Patiala, thus taking the figure to 1037, said Chandbaja. There are a large number of other patients who are receiving treatment at Bikaner, Chandigarh, Delhi and other private hospitals. So, the estimate of the health department in no way paints the real picture of the crisis, he said. The gravity of the situation could be gauged from the fact that in reply to the RTI queries, the Government Hospital, Patiala, submitted that 14,357 patients received treatment in the hospital from January 2011 to July 2012. The RTI information further revealed that similar to humans, cancer has even started affecting the animals. |
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Protest over sect leader’s congregation
Muktsar, September 16 In a written request to the Deputy Commissioner, the Sikh leaders have stated that the congregation must be disallowed by the administration or they would take steps against the holding of the conference, which is being organized by the Navyug Youth Club at PUDA Colony on Kotkapura road. Those who signed the document submitted included Jasvir Singh of Sikh Virsa Council, Harpreet Singh, Head Granthi of Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, Maninder Singh of Shiromani Khalsa Panchayat, Gurjeet Singh of Guru Gobind Singh Study Circle, Jarnail Singh of Bhujang Khalsa and Satpal Singh of Naam Simran Sewa Society |
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Brick kiln owners decide not to pay hiked tax
Muktsar, September 16 In a meeting of seven districts of Malwa region held here yesterday, state president of the Brick Kiln Owners' Association, Kuldeep Singh Makkar, said, "The industry is already under tremendous pressure due to the ban imposed by the High Court on the digging of top soil and we can not pay the increased amount of tax. All brick kiln owners will pay the same amount of sales tax as was being paid by them before the recent notification of the state government regarding the increase in tax." Makkar further said the doubling of sales tax in a single move would affect nearly 20 lakh people directly or indirectly. He said that the state has nearly 3,000 brick kilns and if the state government does not rollback its decision, they would have no other option left but to stop the sale of bricks in the state. Devinder Rajdev, district president of Brick Kiln Owners' Association, said, "Before the recent increase in the tax, we were paying nearly Rs 2.42 lakh every year as lump sum amount by way of sales tax, which has now been doubled. If we compare the amount of tax with that in the neighbouring states, then it is too high." |
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Fazilka gets its first legal aid clinic
Fazilka, September 16 The clinic would be managed by a panel of advocates and para legal volunteers who have been especially trained to provide competent legal services to the needy and the poor. Social activist Anil Jyani of village Katehra would manage the clinic and provide free legal advice and aid to the poor. "Legal aid clinics are being set up with the aim of making free legal services accessible to the poor, marginalised and weaker sections of society," said Fetehdeep Singh. He said the Punjab and Haryana High Court has preferred to set up the clinics in remote rural areas, the residents of which are not in a position to engage a counsel or approach the courts. "The scheme has also been designed to bring legal services to the doorstep of the weaker sections of society including women, spread legal literacy and awareness, to encourage amicable settlement of disputes through Lok Adalats and mediation centres, to provide free legal services in complex legal matters and in drafting the petitions, notices and applications," added the sessions judge. The sessions judge inspected the courts of Fazilka. He also visited the renovated court rooms to be provided to the additional sessions judges who are likely to be posted at the district headquarters of Fazilka in future. Jaspal Verma, Civil Judge (Senior Division), Secretary, District Legal Services Authority, Ferozepur, Sumit Ghai, sub-divisional judicial magistrate, judge Ashish Saldi, Vaneeta Kumari of the Rajasthan High Court, Jagat Singh, RK Sharma, additional district attorney, Sushil Gumber, president, Bar Association, Fazilka, K Bishnoi, president, Bar Association, Abohar, Rajinder Singh Bhatta, president, Bar Association, Jalalabad, social activist Liladhar Sharma, advocates and social activists were also present at the ceremony held to inaugurate the legal aid clinic. |
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Abohar teachers gear up for PU senate polls
Abohar, September 16 Abohar had gained significance in the PU elections as the DAV Managing Committee has fielded the DAV College principal Dr Sanjeev Kumar Arora
from the graduates constituency. Other contestants from the area include Pardeep Kumar Thakral of Sri Satya Sai B.Ed College, former PU students union chairman Varinder Singh of Kothi Faiz besides Sandeep Dhuria, the District Education Officer at Fazilka. DAV College teacher GS Chahal is also a contestant from the lecturers constituency for the senate. Dhuria has backing of hundreds of government teachers who were busy campaigning for him. |
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Four-laning of F’pur-Hussainiwala stretch gets the nod
Ferozepur, September 16 As per the information, the four-laning project had earlier been approved only from Ludhiana to Talwandi Bhai which had triggered protests amidst the local residents who wanted the project to be extended up to Hussainiwala. After their persistent demand, Ferozepur MLA Parminder Singh took up the matter with the ministry following which the officials concerned have been asked to prepare a detailed survey report and a revised estimate for the same. According to the officials belonging to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), an amount of Rs 479 crores was being spent on the four-laning from Ludhiana to Talwandi Bhai. The work is being executed under build, operate, transfer (BOT) basis. Besides the widening of road, several grade separators, ROBs and underbridges are also likely to come up on this road. Earlier, keeping in view the historical importance of Hussainiwala, where the National Martyrs Memorial is located, the state government had approached the ministry to extend the project up to the Hussainiwala border. The officials from the MORT&H had held a meeting with the district administration in this regard following which it was agreed to extend the project up to Hussainiwala on which another Rs 25 crores was to be spent. All the departments concerned including Forest, Powercom, PWD, BSF and the Army had been asked to prepare estimates for shifting electric poles, bunkers and other utilities along this road. However, later the project was shelved in the revised modified plan causing lot of disappointment among the local residents. Confirming the development, Sukhdev Singh, Executive Engineer, Central Works Division (CWD), said the department has started a survey on this stretch of the road and a detailed estimate was also being prepared. Sukhdev Singh said earlier, a manual survey had been conducted. However, the department has now conducted a computerised survey to prepare the drawings for this project. PWD officials said though the estimates were submitted earlier also following much persuasion by the then DC KK Yadav who had taken up the matter with the NHAI to extend the scheme up to Hussainiwala, the project was left out during the modified plan by the ministry apparently due to shortage of funds. "Every day, thousands of people from far and wide come to Hussainiwala to pay respects to the martyrs and watch the Indo-Pakistan retreat ceremony. Several big fairs and festivals like Baisakhi and Shahidi Divas are also held here with fanfare during which lakhs of people come to pay obeisance to the martyrs," said Gulshan Monga, adding that it was imperative to widen and beautify this stretch of the road. He said the project should have been taken up on priority basis by both the state as well as the central governments. When contacted, Pinki said the road on other side of the Hussainiwala border in Pakistan from Gandasinghwala to Lahore had already been four-laned long time back. However, no government had taken up the initiative to widen the road on the Indian side. Pinki further demanded that the stretch of the road between Talwandi Bhai to Ferozepur should also be included in the project. |
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Bathinda, September 16
