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Govt cracks the whip, 2 more senior policemen suspended
Shruti case: DGP says Cong distorted facts
Another
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Girl’s parents still on dharna
Paucity of officers in Pathankot: CM
Forest Dept receives a rap on its knuckles
Power generation hit at Ropar plant
Ranike’s PA to be produced in court today
Amritsar part of Centre’s vegetable cluster scheme
College selected for research on earthquakes
Police to step up vigil during festive season
Sangrur’s bus stand paints a grim picture
Farmers block traffic in Sangrur
SARAS mela concludes
Policemen slap youths, face public anger
Denied bail by HC, 34 dera men sent to jail
Sedition charges against Dal Khalsa leaders dropped
Youth held with smack in Patiala
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Govt cracks the whip, 2 more senior policemen suspended
Patiala, October 22 The suspensions are being viewed as zero tolerance by the state government towards dereliction of duty. The Punjab Government had earlier suspended Inspector-General of Police (Vigilance) SK Asthana for allegedly keeping unauthorised manpower and Superintendent of Police (SP) Dharam Pal Singh Uppal for intimidating witnesses. Gurdaspur Jail Superintendent Shammi Kumar, an SP-rank official who was on deputation with the department, and Deputy Superintendent of Police (Jail) Devinder Singh Randhawa were suspended today. They were found guilty of negligence following an inquiry conducted by Deputy Inspector-General LS Jakhar. On October 4, three inmates, Bikram Singh, Manga Masih and Baljit Singh, broke out of the Gurdaspur jail by cutting a bathroom grill and scaling the outer wall of the prison with the help of a rope reportedly thrown by their accomplices from outside the prison. They, however, were arrested on the same day in Ludhiana. In his probe report, submitted to Additional Director-General of Police (Jails) RP Meena, Jakhar had pointed towards "gross negligence" on the part of the two jail officials. Meena confirmed to The Tribune that the two officials had been suspended with immediate effect. "I had marked an inquiry to the DIG. The report clearly put the onus on these two officials," he said.
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Girl’s parents still on dharna
Faridkot, October 22 “The state government had a few days ago critcised two police officers for tarnishing the image of the minor girl by releasing her photographs. Now when the girl has been found, the police continues to stick to its old stand that it is a case of elopement, not kidnapping,” said Bhupinder Sangatpura, a member of the Action Committee. “So far, I have not spoken to my daughter. We have no faith in the police as it is adamant on painting a wrong picture,” said Shruti’s father Ashwani Sachdeva. The Faridkot Deputy Commissioner and the Senior Superintendent of Police, accompanied by Akali legislators Deep Malhotra and Mantar Brar, met the Sachdevas at their house today. They said the Chief Minister wished to visit them but on the condition that he was not asked uneasy questions. Before Shruti’s parents could react, the Action Committee members present there asked the officers as to why the case was being projected as that of elopement. “Before the CM expresses his sympathy with the family, he needs to tell us whether he considers it a case of abduction or elopement,” said one of them. Continuing with their protest, activists of the Punjab Students’ Union staged a skit in front of the police station on the poor law and order situation.
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Shruti case: DGP says Cong distorted facts
Chandigarh, October 22 The police is, however, going by the law. The fact that Shruti is a minor and is of an impressionable age means action according to the law would be taken against Nishan. Director-General of Police Sumedh Singh Saini, however, feels there has been distortion of facts and blames those sitting on a “dharna” at Faridkot (Congress and the local Sangharsh Samiti) for the same. At a press meet here, he went into the case history and highlighted the fact that Shruti had been taken away from her house by Nishan Singh earlier too and that they had lived in Kharar for nearly a month in June this year posing as a married couple.The DGP also claimed that political pressure had hindered investigations. He tried to explain the conduct of the former Deputy Inspector-General of Police and Senior Superintendent of Police, Faridkot, in this context. He said the statements of these officers had been misconstrued. But he admitted that they had acted with insensitivity while giving information on the courier received by the police from Nishan Singh and Shruti. He said the officers may have acted insensitively, but Congress leaders had made the Shruti case a tool for furthering their own ends. The DGP might have a point regarding the complexity of the case, but he has no answer as to why no action was taken against Nishan Singh when he had taken Shruti away in June following which a rape case was registered against him. All he could say was: “That is something I will request the Bathinda Inspector-General of Police NS Dhillon to look into.” He, however, admitted that had action been taken against Nishan Singh in the first instance, the second offence would not have taken place. Sources say it is this police inability to make its men accountable that compounded the Shruti case. They say the police admits laxity in the initial investigation yet no remedial measures are in sight. This, they say, is because the police refuses to admit that its men came under pressure from local leaders and botched the initial probe resulting in the case turning into a political issue.
Another accused held Moga, October 22 Senior Superintendent of Police Surjit Singh Grewal said a special team on Sunday raided a house at Ajitwal in Moga district to nab Toofan Singh, but he escaped. He was later arrested from a house in Kalsian village on the Jagraon-Nakodar road. Toofan Singh, 22, hails from Fatehgarh Kortana village of the Dharamkot subdivision of this district. He is already facing five criminal cases, including that of attempt to murder and criminal assault. Barinder Singh Dhalla, another of Nishan Singh's aides, who was arrested on October 1, is in judicial custody of the Faridkot police.
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Demand not accepted, Fazilka teachers lock education office staff
Fazilka, October 22 The city police got the employees released after about one-and-a-half hours. Sources said some teachers went to the DEO office for an endorsement of the transfer of computer teacher Parmjit Kaur from Government Senior Secondary School, Malookpura village, to Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Fazilka. The endorsement could not be made since DEO Sandeep Dhuria was on leave. This enraged the teachers who first raised slogans against the DEO staff and later locked the door of the office. Sources said 10 officials were allegedly held captive from 4.30 to 6.10 pm. The local police and Additional Deputy Commissioner Charandev Singh Maan was informed about the incident, who got the staff members released. “Action will be taken against the erring persons who locked the office,” Maan said. Bhagwant Bhateja, district president of the Government Teachers Union, said: “The teachers reached the DEO office at 9.30 am for an endorsement. None of the staff members listened to their request till the evening, due to which they resorted to protest”. Officials of DEO office have lodged a police complaint against three members of the union. Bhateja said the union members would stage a dharna outside the DEO office tomorrow.
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Paucity of officers in Pathankot: CM
Pathankot, October 22 The rally, which was organised by BJP national executive member Swaran Salaria in collaboration with the Pathankot district BJP, saw all ticket aspirants on the dais. Former Member of Parliament from Gurdaspur Vinod Khanna and his wife Kavita, who is on the BJP national executive, attended the rally too. Khanna in his speech claimed, “The BJP leadership in New Delhi has asked me to contest the next parliamentary elections from Gurdaspur.” His rival Salaria, who has been designated as halqa in charge of the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha constituency and who is among the ticket aspirants, urged the CM to initiate developmental works in the area and to set up employment Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in the district to enable the youth to be self-employed. He requested the CM to appoint local MLA Seema Kumari as Chief Parliamentary Secretary. Admitting that there was a paucity of officers in the newly carved out Pathankot district, the CM said that this anomaly would be removed at the next Cabinet meeting. The BJP state president, Ashwani Sharma, former minister Master Mohan Lal, educationist SK Punj, Pathankot BPJ president Narinder Parmar and former Improvement Trust Chairman Anil Vasudeva were among those who attended the rally.
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Forest Dept receives a rap on its knuckles
Chandigarh, October 22 Giving a clean chit to Harsh Kumar in the matter, the Commissioner has also made it clear that notices were being issued to IFS officers BC Bala, SS Bhatti and Sewa Singh along with Punjab Forest Services officer Wilbert Samson, forester Balbir Singh, forest guard Hardeep Singh, forester Hargovinder and range officer Balwant Singh for “abetting the crime”. The case against Amritsar forest division staff pertains to bribe of Rs 25,000 and cutting of trees. Taking exception to attempts being made to quash through the Vigilance Department the FIR registered under the provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act, the Commissioner asserted: “FIR once registered can only be quashed/filed under Section 482 of the CrPC by the High Court and above.” The Commissioner added: “There is no provision under the IPC/CrPC wherein an executive authority can file/quash the FIR. Moreover, as per a recent Supreme Court judgment, corruption has been equated with heinous crimes like murder, rape etc and no compromise is allowed by the Court. Mincing no words, the Commissioner also asserted that another inquiry being conducted by IFS officer SS Bhatti was “violative of a Punjab Government circular” and the probe was illegal. “The department has tried to save the accused referred to in the complaint for reasons best known to them,” the Commissioner ruled. In a report on the issue, the Commissioner also asserted that “Harsh Kumar was justified in sending the case to the vigilance in the light of a Punjab Financial rule, which makes police investigations mandatory in such cases…. Vigilance is the right authority for such an action…. Harsh Kumar in public interest was justified in referring corruption allegation to the vigilance bureau, which is the specialized wing of the State to deal with corruption cases.”
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Power generation hit at Ropar plant
Ropar, October 22 Engineers noticed a leakage in the boiler of unit no. 2 at 7 am following which it was stopped. Earlier on October 20, unit no. 3 went out of order due to the problem of earthing. The generation capacity of each of the six units is 210 MW. Chief Engineer K Lal said the repair of the unit no. 3 would be completed soon. — TNS
Cab driver robbed of car
Muktsar: Five robbers, including a girl, allegedly snatched an Alto car from its driver near Mehna village in the Lambi assembly constituency late last evening. The robbers had hired the car from Gidderbaha taxi stand to go to Dabwali in Haryana. The police said a complaint had been lodged by car driver Pardeep Kumar. — TNS
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Ranike’s PA to be produced in court today
Amritsar, October 22 Sarabhdyal is the main accused in the alleged bungling of government funds worth crores of rupees, a scam that saw the ouster of Ranike from the Punjab Cabinet. Sarabhdyal and Harjit were arrested from Naintal and were sent to a three-day police remand on October 20. The Vigilance officials, however, remained tightlipped about their interrogation. The Vigilance officials had claimed that their arrest would help them dig deeper into the Border Area Development Funds scam and the Rural Area Development Funds scam. Grants worth Rs 3.14 crore were embezzled under fake bank accounts in the names of village panchayats and rural sports clubs.
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Amritsar part of Centre’s vegetable cluster scheme
The Central Government has already allocated funds for the project. The only other city in the state to be included in the scheme is Ludhiana where work on forming vegetable clusters has already started to ensure the supply of good quality vegetables to city residents. The scheme envisages development of vegetable clusters in peripheral towns/cities of a big city (having a population of over one million) and help in increasing vegetable production in these areas. With the Centre giving a formal go-ahead to include Amritsar under the scheme, the state Horticulture Department has decided to form vegetable clusters in Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur, Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur. Talking to The Tribune, Lajwinder Singh Brar, Director, Horticulture, said the government had already allocated Rs 12 crore for the development of vegetable clusters around Amritsar. “We had launched this scheme in Ludhiana last year, and are already in the process of forming farmer-producer companies in the peripheral towns of Sangrur, Jalandhar, Fatehgarh Sahib and Patiala,” he said, adding, the services of two non-government organisations (NGOs), Internal Traceablity Systems and Actech Foundation, were being sought to form farmer interest (self-help) groups. Brar said though farmer interest groups were finding it difficult to buy land to set up infrastructure for pack houses for vegetables, they were being asked to take panchayat land on lease and set their pack houses. The total vegetable production in Punjab is 37.34 lakh metric tonnes per annum, with potatoes, peas and root crops being the main vegetables. The scheme will cover all aspects relating to vegetable production, from production and supply of planting material to marketing up to the retail level, formation of farmer groups, their linkage to aggregators/markets, besides training and capacity building of vegetable growers in identified clusters. Under this scheme, each farmer interest group will grow vegetables over 20 hectares. These groups in one geographical location will be clustered as farmer producers' organisation, which will be registered under the Societies Act. These organisations will directly market their produce to retailers with the help of a marketing aggregator, who will ensure that the farmers get a good price for their produce and the role of middlemen is
minimised.
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Rampant corruption in Punjab: IAC
Ludhiana, October 22 Sisodia said during his visit, it had been reported to him that many influential people were involved in the business of drugs. IAC would take up the issue if and when substantial proofs of their involvement were submitted to it, he added. He said in Punjab also there were cases in which the process of land allocation to set up industrial units had been unfair and involved corrupt practices. Similar was the case in the allocation of toll barriers and road construction,
he added. Batting for a "180-degree" change in politics, he said their party would contest the Lok Sabha polls. He denied that IAC was forging an alliance with any political party including that with Manpreet Badal-led People's Party of Punjab. He claimed there was a mechanism in their party whereby each member was open to an impartial enquiry in case of any allegations of corruption against them. Refuting allegations that IAC was selective in "targeting politicians", he said the issue raised by their former associate YP Singh had already been taken up by the party. During the meeting, some people, claiming to be IAC volunteers, expressed their dissatisfaction over the functioning of IAC at the local level. "Local volunteers are being ignored just like Anna Hazare was sidelined earlier," claimed a man who identified himself as an office-bearer of a traders' association. Sisodia dismissed the allegations as baseless. He said they were levelled with an intent to disrupt the meeting.
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College selected for research on earthquakes
Fatehgarh Sahib, October 22 Dr Pardeep Ramancharla, Head, Earthquake Engineering Research Centre, IIIT, Hyderabad, said that as Chandigarh and the adjoining area came under zone five, Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC)-run BBSBEC had been selected under the World Bank- funded project on earthquakes. The movement of the earth’s crust in the zone has been selected as a field of research, he added. Prof RS Uppal, Head of the Department of Computer Science Engineering, said the project involved installation of a large number of sensors on the buildings. Most of these sensors are surface-mounted and will not cause any structural damage to them, Uppal added. Dr MS Grewal, Principal of the College said the research site, around 50-75 km away from Chandigarh will give good insight into the region’s seismic activity. He said it will enhance the knowledge of the students in instrumentation and also provide facility for the networking of the sensors installed in the building. SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar congratulated the Principal, staff and students on achieving this feat.
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Police to step up vigil during festive season
Sangrur, October 22 Gill has asked the senior superintendents of police to conduct day and night checking in their districts. It was a priority for the police to maintain law and order during this season when women wore precious ornaments and farmers possessed large amounts of cash, he said. The IGP was handing over case properties, worth Rs 4 crore, to their owners. The properties were involved in 275 cases of accidents, dowry, theft, robbery etc. These were handed over to the owners after procuring orders from the courts in this regard. The case properties included 163 vehicles, 290 gm of gold and 233 gm of silver. Gill also sought cooperation from the people in controlling the drug menace in the state.
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Sangrur’s bus stand paints a grim picture
Sangrur, October 22 The PRTC authorities get a yearly revenue of Rs 60 lakh from the bicycle stand and shops at the terminus but little of that amount is spent on the maintenance of the bus stand. The government has been promising local residents of building a new bus stand in the city with modern facilities for the last two years. Due to dilapidated state of the sewerage system at the bus stand water accumulates on the premises inconveniencing the passengers. The bus stand lacks potable water and the walls of the bus stand are filled with posters. General Manger of the Sangrur depot of the PRTC Rajinder Joshi said construction of the new bus stand was expected to start in a few months to come.
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Farmers block traffic in Sangrur
Sangrur, October 22 The protest was led by senior vice president of SAD (Delhi), Punjab, Parshotam Singh Phaguwala. He said despite the fact that all four samples taken from the shop called Punjab Pesticides had passed the tests; its licence had been cancelled. Chief Agriculture Officer Dr Rajinder Singh Sohi said the licence of the shop was cancelled on other grounds. The owner of the shop had failed to appear before the Registration Authority on September 21 to reply to the notice issued to him. He was notified that his godown was illegal and that he had no record of medicines, he added.
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SARAS mela concludes
Patiala, October 22 Rural Development and Panchayats Minister Surjit Singh Rakhra was the chief guest on the concluding day.
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Policemen slap youths, face public anger
Bathinda, October 22 Local residents, most of them shopkeepers and youngsters, alleged that the youths had been slapped in full public view without being in the wrong. The youths, reportedly a jeweller’s son and a businessman’s son, were asked to stop by the police near Sadbhawna Chowk. The youths claimed that they had all the required documents regarding the motorcycle but they were still slapped. The crowd surrounded the police personnel as soon as they slapped the youths. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ravcharan Singh Brar rushed to the site and pacified the large number of residents who were holding a protest and raising slogans against the police personnel. Later, talking to the media, the SSP Ravcharan Singh Brar assured that nobody would be allowed to take the law into his
own hands. The SSP denied that he had given any instructions to the police to beat up rowdy youth. He said disciplinary action would be taken against the officials accused of thrashing
the youths. Brar added that first an inquiry would be conducted into the incident after which action would be taken. He asked the two youths, Jolly and Anmol, to meet him afterwards to sort out the issue.
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Denied bail by HC, 34 dera men sent to jail
Moga, October 22 Justice Mahinder Singh Sullar of the Punjab and Haryana High Court had recently dismissed their bail application, though the appeal against the orders of the District and Sessions Judge was admitted, dera followers’ counsel Narinder Kumar Aggarwal said. The court sent the convicts to Faridkot Central Jail due to a paucity of space at Moga sub-jail. Senior Superintendent of Police Surjit Singh Grewal said security had been beefed up in the area. A case was registered against 36 dera followers after hundreds of members of the community went on the rampage, damaging 15 buses, four bogeys of trains and public property in the district. They were protesting against the registration of an FIR by the Central Bureau of Investigation against dera head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and four others on the charge of murder, criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence. One of the 36 persons who were booked, Agya Pal Singh, was acquitted due to lack of evidence while another follower died during the course of trial. Sub-Inspectors Kikkar Singh and Subash Chander had identified these dera followers in the court. Twentysix more persons, including 16 government employees, had also testified against them.
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Sedition charges against Dal Khalsa leaders dropped
Amritsar, October 22 An FIR was registered on June 8, 2005, at the Civil Lines police station, Amritsar, against Kanwar Pal Singh and 20 others for delivering provocative speeches and inciting people. The allegations against the petitioners were that on the eve of Operation Bluestar anniversary on June 5, they took out a procession in which certain slogans and speeches were made to incite people to form Khalistan. All were booked under Sections 124-A (sedition), 153-A, 153-B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national-integration) and 188 of the IPC. All the accused, including Dal Khalsa president HS Dhami and spokesman Kanwar Pal Singh, appeared before the trail court of CJM today. Advocate VPS Bhatia appeared as counsel for the accused. Last week, the Punjab and Haryana High Court quashed the sedition charges against all the accused. In the light of that order, the court of CJM Ranjeet Kaur today dropped the charges/proceedings in the case. In February 2010, the accused had moved the high court, seeking quashing of the case. Their plea was that the allegations made in the FIR were factually incorrect as they never raised any such slogans. They also produced a TV video of the procession showing that no such slogans were raised. Among those against whom charges have been quashed are HS Dhami, Satnam Singh Paonta Sahib, Kanwarpal Singh, Sarabjit Singh Ghuman, Balraj Singh, Kuldeep Singh, Arpal Singh, Baldev Singh, Gurdeep Singh, Giani Amrik Singh, Sukhdev Singh, Sarwan Singh and Avtar Singh.
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Youth held with smack in Patiala
Patiala, October 22 The region has witnessed a spurt in the number of chain-snatching incidents in the recent past. Patiala Senior Superintendent of Police Gurpreet Singh Gill said, “At a naka near Atma Ram Kumar Sabha School, we stopped a motorbike-borne youth, but he tried to flee. The youth named Harinderpal Singh was later arrested. We recovered 70 gm of smack and 500 gm of drug-laced powder from him.” The accused revealed he was involved in many snatching incidents. “We have recovered 110 gm of gold, 7 wallets, a dozen mobiles and Rs 30,000 in cash from his possession,” Gill added.
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Faridkot, October 22
Chandigarh, October 22