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High input costs lower morale of cotton growers
Prime Minister’s transit visit to Adampur today
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3 more held in Ranike case
Principal among 7 punished for mass copying
Notice to revenue officials in land fraud case
Id-ul-Zuha celebrated with fervour
Charges against BJP president won't affect alliance, says Badal
Now, Bhattal okay with Amarinder as captain
Pavers block units told to shut shop on quality issue
Protests over delay in lifting paddy a routine in Muktsar
50% cases against NRIs reported in Doaba
Man who helped Nishan make licence on fake identity arrested
Badal pays surprise visit to his 106-year-old aunt
Boy murdered a day ahead of sister's wedding
Head constable held for trying to rape 5-yr-old
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High input costs lower morale of cotton growers
Chandigarh, October 27 This coupled with high labour cost of cultivation has brought down the profit margins of cotton growers. The cost of cultivating cotton over an acre of land has gone up from Rs 2,000 per acre last year to Rs 3,500 per acre this year. With farmers getting low prices for their produce this year (Rs 4,000 per quintal-Rs 4,200 per quintal), cotton growers say cotton is no longer the white gold that it used to be. Karnel Singh, a cotton grower from Fazilka, and president of the Nau Jawan Kisan Club, said the cost of weedicide used in cotton crop had gone up by 17 per cent this year. "This has brought down the profitability of the farmers. The cost of labour for cotton picking too has gone up from Rs 3 per kg last year to Rs 6.50- Rs 7.50 per kg this year. A rise in prices of diesel further dented the profit margins. All these factors have led the farmers to think of alternative crops. Our estimate is that 25 per cent of the growers in Malwa region will shift to paddy cultivation next year," he said. Ravi Kant, a farmer from Kainikhera village in Fazilka, said the yield of cotton had stagnated as most of the farmers had switched to Bt cotton. "The need of the hour is to introduce weed-resistant varieties, which alone can help improve the yield. The government should promote field trials on weed-resistant varieties like round-up ready, which will help improve the yield from the present 930 kg per acre to 1,120 kg per acre," he said. Varinder Singh Arya, a cotton grower from Maiyar village near Hisar, said with weedicide accounting for 22- 25 per cent of the total input cost in cotton cultivation, there was a need to develop weed-resistant varieties. "Though the technical expert committee appointed by the Supreme Court has recommended a moratorium on research field trails of biotechnology crops, the government should contest this and help the cotton growers increase their productivity," he said. Eroding margins
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Prime Minister’s transit visit to Adampur today
Jalandhar, October 27 The team also briefed the district authorities, including officials from health, fire brigade and other departments, about the protocol. On his way to Una in Himachal Pradesh, where Dr Manmohan Singh will address an election rally tomorrow, the Prime Minister will land at Adampur airbase between 1 pm and 3 pm in a charter plane. Sources said there was a scheduled halt of just 5 to 7 minutes at Adampur. Senior Congress leaders from Punjab will welcome him. The Prime Minister will fly in a helicopter to the rally venue in Una and after addressing an election rally there, he will again land at Adampur airbase at about 4 pm and subsequently, his special charter plane will take off for Delhi, the sources said. Gurmit Singh, Superintendent of Police, Jalandhar (Rural) police, claimed to have made elaborated security arrangements. He claimed the air base had been cordoned off and visitors, including Congress leaders, would be allowed to enter the airbase after thorough screening.
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3 more held in Ranike case
Amritsar, October 27 The three accused allegedly provided photographs and bogus documents for opening fake bank accounts under different names and in different banks in order to misappropriate the government funds meant for development works in Attari constituency. Among those arrested are Jagtar Singh, Balwinder Singh, both residents of village Gehri Mandi, and Sushil Kumar of Bhalla Colony in Chheharta. Their interrogation had established the misappropriation of Rs 47 lakh of the Rs 2 crore released under discretionary grants, sources said. Investigations revealed that Harjit Singh, brother-in-law of Sarabhdyal Singh, allegedly opened five bank accounts in as many banks under different names. He allegedly helped Sarabhdyal in bungling about Rs 32 lakh. He opened three accounts in three branches of Punjab and Sind Bank located at Chaugwan, Tarn Taran Road and Islamabad, one in State Bank of Patiala near Jallianwala Bagh and one in State Bank of India, Railway Station branch, wherein he introduced himself as president of various sports clubs, said sources. "All these sports clubs did not receive any grants released in their name," said Vigilance SSP Opinder Singh Ghuman. Similarly, Jagtar Singh and Balwinder Singh also introduced themselves in the banks as presidents of sports clubs in order to usurp the government grants. Both the accused had reportedly admitted to the embezzling of Rs 10 lakh each. On the other hand, Sushil Kumar, who used to work in Centurion Bank as an insurance agent, was instrumental in opening of fake bank accounts. He helped Sarabhdyal and Harjit Singh in opening of nine fake bank accounts in ICICI bank and eight in Syndicate bank in connivance of Mohit Sareen and Ashok Kumar, both employees of the two banks, respectively. So far, the Vigilance has nabbed 19 persons in discretionary funds scam while 12 in Border Area Development fund scam.
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Principal among 7 punished for mass copying
Jalandhar, October 27 While five employees are from Sant Baba Dalip Singh Memorial Khalsa College Domeli in Kapurthala, the remaining two are from Guru Nanak Khalsa College in Daroli Kalan. Apart from Domeli college principal Kirpal Kaur (who was coordinator for the conduct of examination), action has been taken against lecturers Inderdeep Singh, Jagdeep Kaur and Simratpal Singh and retired superintendent Harjit Singh of the same institute. Among the lecturers from Daroli Kalan college are Simranjot Kaur and Kulwant Kaur. Kirpal Kaur, however, claimed that it was a wrong complaint made against her and the students. Both the colleges are being run by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committtee. All the 73 BA-I students, who were appearing for English (Compulsory Course) examination, have also been barred from any examination for two years. Sources said during the checking of answer sheets, the examiners found that all the students had committed the same mistakes and had exactly copied the same answers from a common source. The first common mistake found by the examiners reportedly was in translation. All the students had wrongly translated the words ‘potable water’ to ‘khada pani’ in Punjabi (meaning standing water). All had written a letter addressed to brother instead of mother, as had been asked in the question paper. There allegedly was yet another common mistake: all students used the same name of boys Anil and Sunil and pet dog Brownie in paragraph writing. The students were even called by the university’s unfair means committee on August 13 to clear their stand. After the students denied having indulged in any malpractice, they were asked to attempt the composition part of the paper again. On the basis of its findings, the committee passed a decision against them. Controller of Examination RK Mahajan confirmed the development: “Action has been taken on the basis of evidence gathered by the university and examiners." How they were exposed
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Notice to revenue officials in land fraud case
Moga, October 27 A senior vigilance official said notices had been served on as many as seven tehsildars/naib tehsildars, including officiating tehsildar of Moga Madan Mohan, seeking a reply from them on executing sale deeds and testifying mutations of the panchayat land in the name of private parties. The bureau has also given a questionnaire to these officials, asking them to give a written reply on each of the points raised in the notices. The official said a huge portion of village common land had been allegedly sold in connivance with revenue officials, he said. It has also come to light that during the computerisation of land records, revenue officials concerned ignored the sale deeds and did not correct the ownership rights in the record as directed by the Directorate of Land Records. The directorate has from time to time directed the revenue officials across the state to correct the previous anomalies entered into the records, but these directions were ignored by them. Interestingly, the ownership right of the disputed land in Charik village that is "khana malki" is entered in the name of panchayat, but the cultivating rights "khana kasht" has been vested with individuals who have started selling this land to earn profits. Startling facts have also come to light that the revenue officials had also done mutations of the disputed land, indicating their alleged role in the land fraud. Recently, DDPO-cum-Collector of panchayat properties Ranbir Singh Mudhal in his report found that the successive BDPOs of the Moga-II block failed to protect the village common land of the nearby Salina village, a major portion of which has been sold to influential persons from time to time in the past 60 years. The DDPO forwarded a copy of this report to the Director, Panchayat Department, demanding departmental action against the successive BDPOs for their negligence and also insisted on legal intervention to protect the panchayat property. No action has been taken so far.
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Id-ul-Zuha celebrated with fervour
Malerkotla, October 27 Punjab Finance Minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa, Amargarh legislator Iqbal Singh Jhundan, Farzana Alam and Mohammad Izhar Alam were among those present. The Chief Minister also extended greetings to the Muslim community at an “Id Milan Samaroh”, organised by Malerkotla MLA and Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS) Farzana Alam and her husband Mohammad Izhar Alam, chairman of Punjab Wakf Board. At the Idgah programme, on behalf of the Muslim community, Mufti-e-Punjab Ertiqa-ul-Hasan asked the state government to declare Malerkotla city as a dry area. He urged the government to shut all the liquor vends in the city.
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Charges against BJP president won't affect alliance, says Badal Ludhiana, October 27 Badal was referring to the India Against Corruption (IAC) offensive against Gadkari on the issue of corruption. Not ruling out that the allegations could be part of a "conspiracy" against the BJP, he said the allegations were against an individual and that they would not impact the Akali-BJP alliance in Punjab in any way. The Chief Minister was speaking to mediapersons on the sidelines of the Balmiki Shobha Yatra at Daresi here today. He said on October 31, he would be visiting Himachal Pradesh to campaign for the BJP. Pays surprise visit to his 106-year-old aunt
Bathinda: The Chief Minister today paid a surprise visit to his 106-years-old paternal aunt in Bhaagu road area of the city. He sent the district administration officials in a tizzy with the sudden change in his scheduled route and itinerary. The Chief Minister met his ‘chachi’, Gurtej Kaur, who has not been keeping good health these days, after three years. Hailing from Bhucho village, Gurtej Kaur had recently shifted to the city. She earlier used to stay in Kalcharana village. Her husband Har Raj Singh Badal was the younger brother of Parkash Singh Badal’s father. Gurtej Kaur’s granddaughter-in-law Ravneet Kaur said the centenarian was a witness to the pre-Independence era and often described to them the cultural change that the country had underwent over the past several decades. “Gurtej is bedridden. She was delighted to see the Chief Minister and addressed him by his nickname Pash,” said Ravneet.
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Now, Bhattal okay with Amarinder as captain Jalandhar, October 27 But at the same time, she said Amarinder needed to change his way of functioning. "Otherwise, the Congress will have to face defeat as it did during the recent Assembly elections," she said. Bhattal, who was in the city to participate in Balmiki Shobha Yatra, said Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi's recent visits to Punjab had boosted the morale of the party cadres. "Party workers always want to be heard by the high command and that too in the absence of the state leadership," she said. Bhattal said the people wanted a Congress government in Punjab, but the party lost due to its own mistakes, including overconfidence, wrong ticket distribution and failure to persuade rebels."
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Pavers block units told to shut shop on quality issue
Chandigarh, October 27 Most of these units are either run by local sarpanches, their aides or supporters of politicians. Concrete blocks supplied by these units develop cracks within months. The Rural Development Department is flooded with complaints against substandard material being used in streets. A senior officer said: "There are reports about low quality pavers failing to bear the load of traffic at several places. A production unit for these blocks can be set up with an investment of Rs 5 lakh. Most producers manage to get big orders and also get funds sanctioned without any hassles". To check the alleged nexus, Sukhbir has instructed the Rural Development Department to ensure a mechanism to keep a check on the supply of substandard material. The government is likely to revert to the practice of depending on approved contactors. The officer said: "Empanelled contractors are bound to ensure supply of quality material to get their payments. Otherwise they face the risk of getting blacklisted". A unit owner in Jalandhar said: "Instead of asking the units to shut production, the government should initiate a corrective mechanism to ensure quality. A self-certification document which could invite heavy penalty should be submitted by the contractors. These units save a lot on account of official rigmarole in carrying out development projects".
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Protests over delay in lifting paddy a routine in Muktsar
Muktsar, October 27 So far hardly a day has passed this procuring season when the farmers haven’t lodged protest and blocked roads in demand of speedy lifting of paddy from the mandis across the district. Till date, this procuring season, nearly 15 such protests have been witnessed in Muktsar district alone, which is the home district of ruling Badal family. Irate farmers here alleged that their produce was now being consumed by animals, as it had been lying in the open in the mandis for the past so many days and the officials of the procuring agencies have failed to streamline the procuring process. The situation was said to be dismal in Lambi assembly constituency, where the farmers were repeatedly blocking Fazilka-Delhi national highway as a tool to speed up the process of lifting. In a number of villages, the irate farmers blocked the highway to urge the “erring” officials of the district administration to start the procurement. The commission agents of Muktsar town also adopted the path of protest today. However, with the timely intervention of the district administration officials, they called off their strike against the arbitrary conditions of the rice mill owners. The commission agents had alleged that the rice mill owners were procuring the paddy after under weighing the stock, saying that the paddy’s moisture content was high. However, a team of senior officials of the district administration held a joint meeting between the delegation of Kacha Arhtiya Association and Rice Millers’ Association and directed them to co-operate with each other in streamlining the process. Yesterday, a labourers’ union had also lodged protest at Muktsar grain market against the encroachments made by some people. They said no space was left for unloading paddy crop brought by the farmers. Commuters' nightmare
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50% cases against NRIs reported in Doaba
Jalandhar, October 27 Information obtained under the Right to Information (RTI) Act reflects a grim picture. Of the total 143 criminal cases registered against NRIs in the state between May 2011 and June 2012, as many as 71 (about 50 per cent) were registered in Doaba region. Cases reported include murder, dowry death, kidnapping, fraud, culpable homicide, theft, outraging religious feelings, immoral trafficking, forgery, cruelty against women, forgery, extortion etc. In these cases, 195 men and 60 women NRIs were booked. Of these, 109 men and 31 women belonged to Doaba region. The Jalandhar commissionerate police registered 27 criminal cases against NRIs followed by 14 by the Jalandhar rural police. As many as 11 cases each were registered by the Hoshiarpur and Kapurthala police followed by eight by the SBS Nagar police. A total of 12 women NRIs were booked in criminal cases in Jalandhar, followed by nine in Kapurthala. The Ludhiana rural and Amritsar police registered 12 cases each and booked 15 and 18 NRIs, respectively, in various criminal cases during this period. In other districts like Sangrur, Patiala, Ropar, Khanna, Gurdaspur, Amritsar rural, Barnala, Mohali, Muktsar, Faridkot and Bathinda, less then five cases were registered against NRIs. Surprisingly, in Pathankot, Fazilka, Mansa, Ferozepur, Tarn Taran and Batala, not a single criminal case was registered against NRIs in the said period. Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (ADCP) Navjot Mahal said if any NRI booked in a criminal case was untraceable, the police issued a lookout circular (LOC) to nab them. Many NRIs had also been declared proclaimed offenders (POs) in the recent past, he said. Recently, the Jalandhar police has nabbed militant Jaswant Singh Azad, a British national, for his alleged attempt to revive terrorism in Punjab by activating the sleeper cells of terrorists and financing banned outfits.
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Man who helped Nishan make licence on fake identity arrested
Faridkot, October 27 Senior Superintendent of Police GS Toor said Harsimran, a resident of Phase-10, had helped Nishan Singh stay at a hotel in Chandigarh after he abducted the girl on September 24. The Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court extended Nishan Singh’s remand by another five days today. Singh is the main accused in the Shruti abduction case. The police had demanded the court increase the duration of his remand so it could further investigate the criminal cases registered against him. The police also collected specimen signatures of Nishan Singh after taking permission from the court. It collected the signatures to compare them with those on Singh’s ration card, driving licence and other fabricated documents. The accused had used the fake documents to get a SIM card for his cell phone in Goa. Besides the Punjab Police, the Goa Police also reportedly plans to register a criminal case against Nishan Singh under various Sections of the Indian Penal Code for cheating and forgery after verifying the signatures. Nishan is already booked in 18 criminal cases. Joint action committee, which has been protesting against the government for the alleged mishandling of Shruti’s kidnapping, has called a meeting with all social, religious and political groups, farmer and student unions from across the state at Teachers’ Home Bathinda today. The committee will discuss how Shruti’s family could get justice. Shruti was sent to Nari Niketan, Jalandhar, after she was traced from Goa six days ago.
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Badal pays surprise visit to his 106-year-old aunt
Bathinda, October 27 The Chief Minister met his ‘chachi’, Gurtej Kaur, who has not been keeping good health these days, after three years. Hailing from Bhucho village, Gurtej Kaur had recently shifted to the city. She earlier used to stay in Kalcharana village. Her husband Har Raj Singh Badal was the younger brother of Parkash Singh Badal’s father. Gurtej Kaur’s granddaughter-in-law Ravneet Kaur said the centenarian was a witness to the pre-Independence era and often described to them the cultural change that the country had underwent over the past several decades. “Gurtej is bedridden. She was delighted to see the Chief Minister and addressed him by his nickname Pash. ,” said Ravneet. Gurtej is probably the oldest citizen in the district.
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Boy murdered a day ahead of sister's wedding
Amritsar, October 27 The victim, Mohit Kapoor, had gone missing yesterday after he had gone to purchase vegetables. Mohit's sister was to get married tomorrow and the celebrations turned into mourning as soon as the news reached the house located in Krishna Nagar area near Jaura Phatak. Several relatives had already arrived at their house for the wedding. Mohit's father Shammi Kapoor said they started searching for him an hour after he had left the house. "We repeatedly tried to contact him on his mobile phone but it had been switched off. After our search proved futile, we approached the police," he said. The police said the victim had been murdered with a sharp-edged weapon.
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Head constable held for trying to rape 5-yr-old
Fazilka, October 27 The accused, Gajjan Singh, has been arrested and remanded in judicial custody after being produced in the court of Jalalabad Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate. The incident occurred on October 21 when the five-year-old victim was playing on a street outside her house. The accused allegedly lured the minor to a secluded place and tried to rape her, the victim’s father, who was known to Gajjan Singh, said in his complaint. Ferozepur Senior Superintendent of Police Varinderpal Singh said the victim’s medical examination confirmed the rape attempt. The victim’s father said the accused even allegedly tried to pressurise him not to report the matter to the police. A case has been registered under Section 376 and 511 of the Indian Penal Code.
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Malerkotla, October 27
Faridkot, October 27
