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Sukhbir shielding Shruti abductor: Cong |
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Eight more arrested
crisIs in Higher education
Ranike Case
Brisk procurement of paddy by pvt traders
New food policy on anvil, says Sukhbir
Rahul to visit Jalandhar on October 19
I-T surveys at Jalandhar hospitals
Milk price cut by processing units irks dairymen
State losing cotton and ginning units to Haryana
Over 1,000 RMOs not paid wages
Punjab plans model jail farm in Nabha
patran
Abortion racket
Patiala man dies of swine flu
Rs
1 lakh relief to mishap victim
Two Mohali firms booked for immigration fraud
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Sukhbir shielding Shruti abductor: Cong
Chandigarh, October 17 Congress Legislature Party (CLP) Leader Sunil Jakhar announced that the party would hold a dharna in Faridkot along with the local committee formed a get justice for the abducted girl, Shruti. He said they would burn an effigy of the Badal government along with that of Ravana on Dusehra. Jakhar claimed that the Deputy Chief Minister, who also held the Home portfolio, seemed to be shielding the main accused, Nishan Singh. He pointed out that Nishan Singh was a member of the now disbanded Students Organisation of India (SOI), a pro-Aklais student body. Shruti’s parents, who accompanied the Congress delegation, related their tale of woe to the media. Her father Ashwani Sachdeva said their minor daughter was abducted from their house in Faridkot in broad daylight on September 24. He alleged that the criminals, who were led by 19-year-old Nishan Singh, forced their way into the house as soon as his wife opened the door to leave for work. Sachdeva said his wife, who tried to save Shruti, was hit by rods and suffered three fractures on her arm. Sachdeva alleged that a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) by the name of Gurmeet Singh remained outside the house when Shruti was being kidnapped and did not react to their pleas for help. This clearly showed that the police was helping the criminals. Jakhar presented a poor family from Mullanpur in Dakha, alleging that their 10-year-old girl was abducted on May 5, raped and abandoned in Delhi. The girl’s father claimed that despite his daughter identifying the abductors, the police was not taking any action against them. He also highlighted another rape case in Gurdaspur in which no arrests had been made. The Congress memorandum to the Governor also spoke of the government “insensitivity” to the outbreak of gastroenteritis in Batala. Legislator Ashwani Sekhri said 21 persons had died in Batala’s Gandhi Camp area because of contaminated drinking water supply. He said other towns like Abohar, Fazilka and Jagraon also faced the same problem, yet no corrective action was being taken by the government. Khanna legislator Gurkirat Singh Kotli demanded that the complaint of Punjab Youth Congress activists that the Chandigarh police had damaged the vehicles of its activists during a march to the assembly be re-investigated. Tandon: Suspend erring police officers Chandigarh: Senior BJP leader and former minister Balramji Das Tandon today urged Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to suspend former Faridkot DIG Paramraj Singh Umranangal and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Gurinder Singh Dhillon for dereliction of duty and bringing a bad name to the SAD-BJP Government. He said it was unfortunate that some police officers were not behaving professionally. Instead of receiving instructions from their seniors, these officers were working at the behest political persons of the area. — TNS
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Eight more arrested
Faridkot, October 17 All the arrested are history-sheeters. Rajwinder Singh Ghalli, in his early 20s of age, is facing 10 criminal cases, including two cases of murder and seven of attempt of murder, in Faridkot, Bathinda and Ferozepur districts. He is a proclaimed offender (PO) in all the cases. Aman Gill is facing five criminal cases, including that of attempt to murder. Raju Battar, is booked infour cases of criminal assault. Goldi is involved in two criminal cases and Amna Tyrewala in two. Babbu, Sahil, Sunny Ganja and Lucky are also booked in several cases.
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crisIs in Higher education
There are many engineering graduates like Jagtar who are not getting their due. Faculty members of various colleges admit that there are no major placement opportunities for students. A large number are on jobs with a salary as low as Rs 6,000-Rs 8000 per month. Only a few toppers have managed decent jobs with top companies, mainly WIPRO and Infosys. All the institutes say they have been told by recruitment agencies that the students are not up to the mark and fail to impress the interviewers. "Big houses look for at least 60 per cent in matriculation, 60 per cent in plus two and 65 per cent in graduation. Hence, most students can't make it, " said a director of an institute, adding that lackof English language skills was yet another impediment. Sources say that Punjab Technical University and its affiliated colleges have little arrangements for preparing students for group/panel discussions or a job interview. Students complain that they do not get to interact with the industry enough. Barring a couple of units in Ludhiana, Punjab does not have enough industrial units that could employ young engineering graduates. Navdeepak Sandhu, placement in charge, Punjab Technical University, Jalandhar, said: " IT companies, that recruit most of the students, conduct an aptitude test followed by an interview. A majority of students fail the aptitude test." Anshu Kataria, chairman, Aryan Group of Colleges, claimed that colleges on Chandigarh's periphery were "managing decent results." SS Channy, Principal Secretary, Technical Education and Industrial Training, said: "The decline in the number of placements is not restricted to Punjab alone. Because of changed market trends nationally, the employment figures have gone down. The industry growth rate too has come down to 4.95 per cent." — To be concluded
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Ranike Case
Amritsar, October 17 So far, Vigilance sleuths have nabbed eight persons, including a Block Development and Panchayat officer Satwinder Singh, Indus Bank employee Maninder Singh, sarpanches Daleep Singh and Amrik Singh of Ranike and Neshta villages, respectively, Ninder Singh and Hardep Singh of Nathupur village . Opinder Singh Ghuman, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), said Sareen had opened nine
fake accounts on Sarabhdyal’s insistence. He had opened an account in the name of Bishan Dass, which he would operate himself. He had withdrawn
Rs 2.50 lakh from this account. Surjit Singh, he said, had opened two fake accounts. Sarabhdyal had withdrawn about Rs 3 lakh from the twio accounts, the SSP said. The Vigilance Bureau (VB), that has completed its investigation into the scam, claims that Sarabhdyal bungled funds to the tune of Rs 74 lakh released under the head of Border Area Development Fund. The VB has detected an embezzlement of Rs 2.50 crore in the Rural Area Development Fund scam. Three persons, including Om Parkash, manager of the Bank of Maharastra, have been arrested in this connection.
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Brisk procurement of paddy by pvt traders
Chandigarh, October 17 Figures available with The Tribune show out of the 27.20 lakh tonnes of paddy arrived in mandis so far this year, 3.57 tonnes (13.12 per cent) has been purchased by private traders. Last year, it was just 2.17 lakh tonnes (of the 38.67 tonnes during the same period). Official sources said it was after several years that the state had seen a good private participation in the paddy procurement. In 2010, the total paddy purchased by traders all through the procurement season was just 1.91 lakh tonnes (of the total 128 lakh tonnes procured from the state). But this may not exactly be as good a news as it seems. The sources said the reason for a much higher private participation was that many millers, who had allegedly sold government stock in the open market, are now buying the new paddy crop to return custom milled rice to the government agencies. "Otherwise, private traders avoid buying paddy from Punjab because of high taxes levied in the state. The total tax on the paddy purchased in Punjab is 14.5 per cent, which is amongst the highest in the country. As a result, private traders like to purchase paddy from states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi where the tax rate is much lower. “It is only those millers who have to build the government stocks lying with them are doing brisk buying now," said a leading commission agent of the Khanna grain market. Meanwhile, though the paddy arrivals are much lower so far (27.20 lakh tonnes) as compared to last year (38.67 lakh tonnes), the sources said this was mainly because of delayed monsoon, which had led to late maturing of the crop and thus delayed its arrival in the market. However, the state is hopeful to meet its procurement target of 125 lakh
tonnes. taking stock n Out of the 27.20 lakh tonnes of paddy arriving in the mandis so far, 3.57 lakh tonnes has been purchased by private traders n
Millers, who have allegedly sold govt stock in the open market, are buying the new crop to meet the deficit
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New food policy on anvil, says Sukhbir
Ludhiana, October 17 Industrial powerhouses specialising in the area would submit a report to the sub-committee constituted for the purpose. Multi-national companies would be invited to set up their units in Punjab. Appreciating the synergy between PAU experts and farmers of Punjab, he said the biggest challenge was the depleting water table. He urged agricultural experts to promote the use of high-yield crops that required minimum water. Stressing on the need for agricultural diversification, he said it was imperative for farmers to break the wheat-paddy cycle. He was speaking to media persons on the sidelines of the Golden Jubilee Foundation Day programme at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU). For the fund-crunched PAU, the Deputy CM promised allocation of funds to “take the university to the next level”. In his address during the inaugural session of the programme, he asked the PAU Vice Chancellor Dr Baldev Singh Dhillon to send a proposal for the allocation of funds to the state government. “You give us the proposal. We will provide you with the funds,” he added. He called PAU a national asset that had helped the country become self-sufficient in food grains. Sukhbir defended his statement that 70 per cent of Congress leaders were on drugs. He had made this statement after Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi’s assertion that 70 per cent of youth in Punjab were addicted to drugs. On the issue of paddy procurement, he said the Deputy Commissioners were monitoring the lifting of paddy and would be held accountable for any lapse in the process.
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Rahul to visit Jalandhar on October 19
Chandigarh, October 17 Passes are being issued by the Punjab Congress for the meeting. The participants have been told to reach Jalandhar well in time. Rahul had earlier visited Amritsar and Chandigarh on October 10 and 11. He had met various Congress leaders and activists.
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I-T surveys at Jalandhar hospitals
Jalandhar, October 17 The survey teams, led by Additional Commissioner Shalini Kaushal and Joint Commissioner Vinay Sinha, started their operations at 10 am from Jalandhar-based Chawla Hospital, run by prominent heart specialist Dr Raman Chawla. The process continued till late in the evening. Max Hospital at Hoshiarpur, said to be owned by Dr Chawla, was also subjected to the I-T survey. Other business houses where income-tax sleuths conducted surveys included Jain Jewellers, Jain Ornaments, Moti Jewellers, Manish Jewellers (Hoshiarpur), GB Nursing Home and Punjab Scanning Centre at Phagwara and Khanna Bartan Bhandar (Jalandhar), said Rakesh Suri Income Tax Commissioner, Jalandhar. "The assessment process is on. From an initial scanning of records, we expect that the quantum of undisclosed income may be huge," said Suri. "We will conduct more such surveys in the coming days," he said. Owners of most of the establishments, which were subjected to the I-T survey, claimed that they had not concealed any income and they had been regularly filing their I-T returns. "We have questioned Dr Chawla. Records pertaining to his assets and turnover are being matched with the statements of his employees and others. In case of others, we are questioning them on the market value of property purchased by them and the average footfall of customers or patients at their establishments," said a senior official.
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Milk price cut by processing units irks dairymen
Moga, October 17 Association president Daljit Singh Sadarpura alleged the milk processing units had reduced the purchase price of milk from Rs 55 to Rs 35 per kilo fat, which had badly hit the small and marginal dairy farmers. He said Nestle collected one-third of the milk from Rajasthan. It had recently reduced its collection from the Malwa belt, he said, adding the Union Government had opened the export of skimmed milk after a delay which forced the milk processing units to purchase less milk and decrease the rates. The association asked the state government to give a relief of Rs 2 per kg to the dairy farmers on the pattern of Karnataka and Maharashtra and restrict the units from buying milk from other states.
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State losing cotton and ginning units to Haryana
Chandigarh, October 17 Many Punjab-based industrialists are opting to invest in states like Madhya Pradesh while the state's cotton and ginning industry is shifting base to Haryana. Sample this: Kamal Oswal of Nahar Group, industrial adviser to Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal, is learnt to have invested Rs 700 crore in Madhya Pradesh. Abhishek Group, which is associated with Rajinder Gupta, Deputy Chairman, Punjab Planning Board, has also invested Rs 2,000 crore in some other state. This contradicts the claims by Sukhbir regarding fresh investments in the state. Vardhan Group is also making an investment of Rs 2,000 crore at two locations while SEL is investing Rs 1,000 crore outside the state. The state earlier changed its policies in a bid to attract mega projects and had even offered concessions. This change of policy, however, adversely affected medium cotton and ginning mills in Punjab, which are on the verge of closure. Cotton grown by Punjab farmers is finding its way to Haryana mandis. This is because Punjab levies a total of 16.40 per cent tax on cotton under various heads compared to 10.50 per cent levied by Haryana, 9.60 per cent by Rajasthan, 8 per cent by Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra and 7.50 per cent by Gujarat. Hence, no exporter comes to Punjab to buy cotton. Bhagwan Bansal, a cotton ginner, says the state government's decision to keep farmers happy after giving them free power had only benefited Haryana. He said factories in Punjab had no cotton to gin even as units in Sirsa were doing handsome business. Bansal claimed around 25 ginning mills had shifted to Haryana in the last couple of years. There are around 330 ginning mills in Punjab with a turnover of around Rs 2,200 crore. A ginner from Sardulgarh, who has shifted base to Sirsa, said Punjab truck unions had exorbitant freight charges. He said if a spinning unit from Ludhiana purchased cotton from Sirsa, the freight charges were Rs 90 per bale. On the other hand, if the same unit owner purchased cotton from Mansa, Budhlada or Abohar the charges were Rs 170 per bale, he said. Ginners claim the concessions on taxes given to mega units have also harmed them and a number of bigger units are not spinning but ginning cotton for oil. They said there was only one investment of Rs 1,485 crore by SEL group at Lambi in Muktsar district. Official sources said some of the mega projects approved by the state included Rs 144-crore investment by Shashmaji Yarns in Ludhiana and Rs 303 crore by Sportking at
Bathinda.
n Sources say at least 25 ginning mills have shifted to Haryana in the last couple of years n
Cotton grown here is finding its way to mandis in neighbouring states n
Freight charges in Punjab are also on the higher side n
A policy change to attract big players had a negative impact on the existing units
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Over 1,000 RMOs not paid
Patiala, October 17 Ever since the state government regularised the services of 1,086 Rural Medical Officers (RMOs), they have not got monthly salary on time even once. The RMOs in Bathinda last month got their salaries pending for five months. Preferring anonymity, an RMO working in Sangrur said, “We are the last ones to get our salary.” State President of Rural Medical Services Association (RMSA) Punjab Dr Aslam Parvez said the RMOs working in the peripheral rural areas are suffering a lot because of the delay in the disbursement of their salaries by the state government. “Unlike other departments, the system of disbursement of salary in Zila Parishad is through “grant in aid”. Now, once the “grant in aid” is exhausted, salaries get struck till the time next “grant in aid” is released by the State Finance Department. In the process, the salary of the RMOs is not disbursed for months,” said Dr Aslam. RMSA state organising secretary Dr Anand Malhotra said they had submitted a memorandum to the Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal in this regard. RMSA Punjab has already called an urgent meeting of its members on October 21 in
Patiala.
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Punjab plans model jail farm in Nabha
Patiala, October 17 The government proposes to do away with paddy and wheat crop cycle and focus on cash crops like garlic, ginger and turmeric in the model project to be set up in Nabha Jail farms. The Nabha Jail farm gets round-the-year labour from the nearby Open Air Nabha Jail, where prisoners nearing the completion of their jail term are housed. A formal inspection of the agriculture farm in Nabha was done by the Punjab ADGP (Jails) RP Meena. He has directed the local officers to ensure that land is cleared for the cash crops to be sown from this season in consultation with the experts from Punjab Agriculture University (PAU). “We have ample land in the farm and prison labour is available round the year. We could help the agriculture department show our farmers the benefits of growing other crops,” Meena said.
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Patran
Abortion racket
Patiala, October 17 A Patran-based medical practitioner ran the racket from Kaithal in Haryana. He would take couples, who were interested in having a son, to Kaithal where he would conduct the ultrasound and the abortion if needed. Police is trying to identify the medical institutions in Haryana where the accused doctor took his clients. Sources said the accused doctor was on the run and his private hospital was locked. Patiala Senior Superintendent of Police Gurpreet Singh Gill said, “The couples were taken to Kaithal where the ultrasounds and abortions were conducted after being charged a fee and then later dropped back.” He added that the ones who helped the doctor carry out the illegal practice in Haryana would also be arrested. The scam came to light after a Patran-based doctor was kidnapped by the relatives of a woman named Harpreet Kaur, who was wrongly diagnosed as pregnant with a female foetus. After Harpreet’s relatives found out that the aborted foetus was a male they attacked the doctor and allegedly kidnapped him last week. The kidnapped doctor was later released, but went missing with his family. The arrested relatives of the woman informed the police about the whole racket. “The arrested persons told us that the doctor took pregnant women to Kaithal twice a month charging Rs 9,000 for travel and ultrasound. Charges were more if the women opted for an abortion,” said a senior officer.
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Patiala, October 17 Family members of the deceased, who hailed from SST Nagar, said Jasveer had returned from Georgia few days ago and suddenly fell ill. "He had fever and was constantly vomiting. Initially, we took him to a few local hospitals but when he didn't recover, we took him to DMC, Ludhiana for treatment. He tested positive for swine flu on October 8 and later succumbed to the decease on October 16,” they added. Though Patiala Civil Surgeon Dr Usha Bansal did not answer repeated calls, epidemiologist Gurmeet Singh confirmed that a case was found positive in SST Nagar a few days ago. Based on the report, they had administered medicines to 24 persons who were in contact with the patient, he added. —TNS
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Rs
1 lakh relief to mishap victim
Chandigarh, October 17 Its plea has, however, failed to find favour with a Division Bench of the High Court. Unconvinced, the Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice RP Nagrath has now directed the Municipal Council and the Deputy Commissioner to release the interim compensation to Vijay Kumar forthwith. In its appeal, the Municipal Council had challenged the interlocutory order dated November 15, 2011, passed by a Single Judge, directing the payment of Rs 1 lakh as interim compensation to Vijay Kumar on account of 90 per cent disability suffered by him due to negligence of the local authorities. Vijay Kumar had sustained injuries after a bull attacked him. While awarding the interim compensation, the Single Judge took into consideration the fact that 90 per cent disability was suffered by Vijay Kumar, who appeared to be completely bedridden and had approached the court through his wife. Taking up the matter, the Single Judge had observed that a medical certificate issued by the PGIMER, Chandigarh, dated August 21, 2009, certified that Vijay Kumar was physically handicapped and had "90 per cent impairment in relation to his whole body". In its appeal filed subsequently, the Municipal Council claimed it was not having sufficient funds to pay the interim compensation of Rs 1 lakh. After going through the appeal, the Division Bench asserted: "The plea though, far from convincing, was kept in view to expedite the payment of interim compensation to Vijay Kumar. We directed the Deputy Commissioner, Sangrur, vide our order dated August 21, 2012, to arrange funds for the payment…. "We have our serious doubts on the very maintainability of this appeal. Be that as it may, the impugned order does not suffer with any legal infirmity warranting our interference at this stage. Consequently, we dismiss the appeal with a direction to the appellant, Municipal Council and the Deputy Commissioner, Sangrur, to release the interim compensation…."
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Rs 45-cr heroin seized
Amritsar, October 17 Aditya Mishra, IG, BSF, said the jawans observed some suspicious movements near border post 109/04 in Rajatal. They found three Pakistani nationals had inserted a plastic pipe through the electrified barbed fence to push in the contraband and arms. "When the jawans told them to surrender, one of the smugglers opened fire at them. The jawans retaliated. The miscreants managed to escape taking advantage of the darkness and the standing paddy crop," said Mishra. Answering media queries on Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal's recent remarks that smuggling of drugs continued due to the "connivance of the BSF", the IG refused to comment, but said the jawans were doing their duties whole heartedly and this year's remarkable seizures of heroin proved this fact.
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Two Mohali firms booked for immigration fraud
Mohali, October 17 Hardeep Singh, a resident of a Patiala village, complained to the police that he had given Rs 8 lakh to Seven Overseas company, functioning from Phase II here, but he neither sent abroad nor returned the money. In another case, Gurjeet Singh of Malsia Patti village in Jalandhar district, made a complaint that Deepak Arora and Karandeep, running an immigration company from Phase VI here, took Rs 41.60 lakh from some persons on the pretext of sending them abroad. Cases have been registered against the owners of both the companies under Sections 406 and 420 of the IPC and Section 24 of the Immigration Act.
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The Punjab Congress today claimed Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal was shielding the key accused in the case involving the abduction of a minor girl in Faridkot. It submitted a memorandum to Governor Shivraj Patil highlighting the “all-round failure” of the state government.
Ludhiana, October 17
Chandigarh, October 17
taking stock