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Fresh rebellion in
PPP
Two officials suspended in arms licence scam |
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Roadways buses to be GPS-enabled
Senior Addl A-G not on list of law officers
Villagers take to pressure tactics to highlight plight of schools
Sikh clergy yet to discuss norms for transporting religious books
Sukhbir to lead business delegation to Pakistan
Farmers face spectre of
distress sale
A labourer loads paddy on a tractor-trailer in Malout. Tribune photo: Pawan Sharma
Prepaid meter scheme on anvil
Unpaid Ludhiana contractors halt work on flats for poor
Flats constructed for urban poor under the JNNURM in Ludhiana. A Tribune photograph
Mittal to visit ailing Batala
Policewomen in civvies deployed to check crime
Amarinder threatens to gherao mandis
PGI satellite centre at Ferozepur soon
No-trust motion against Khera samiti
chairman
16 Ropar colonies declared illegal
No vulgar songs in buses: Minister
MLA: Shruti wants to be with her family
HC rejects plea to auction mining site
2 turn hostile in graft case against former minister
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Two officials suspended in arms licence scam
Amritsar, October 31 Tajinder Singh, who served the branch in the past, is already in the police custody. An investigation of the records has led to the exposure of around 123 fake licences which were issued through this branch. The entire staff was summoned to cooperate with the inquiry proceedings. But Harwinder and Vikas never turned up. Deputy Commissioner Rajat Aggarwal said both the employees were suspended as they refrained from participating in the inquiry. "Suspecting their involvement in the racket, we had issued a show-cause notice to them, but they never responded," he said, adding: "The administration is facing a difficulty in tracing the details of old cases as those staff members who had dealt with such cases had not been cooperating. Now we are contemplating to conduct a physical verification of the licences". "Till date, over 100 suspected cases have been found. The number may increase as the scrutiny is still on. With Tajinder's arrest, we may find some vital clues," he added. After the exposure of the scam by the Patiala police a fortnight ago and its subsequent connection with the Amritsar Arms Licensing branch, a probe was conducted to scrutinise the licences issued since 1993 by a team led by Additional Deputy Commissioner Supreet Singh Gulati. It was revealed that the staff of the branch had reportedly issued fake arms licences at the behest of local arms dealers.
Hand-in-glove
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Roadways buses to be GPS-enabled
The GPS-aided vehicle monitoring system has helped the roadways management in a big way in tracking errant bus drivers and curbing indiscipline and pilferage on long distance
routes. The roadways, however, has no plan to install GPS in its 300-400 old buses, which will be phased out by December 31. The GPS provides updates about the position of the buses every 10 minutes at the computers installed at all 18 depots of Punjab Roadways. "The system has helped Punjab Roadways in ensuring punctuality on routes and curbing pilferage of diesel and oil. Now, drivers and conductors are conscious that they are being monitored," said Parneet Singh, General Manager, Punjab Roadways. The revenue collection of the roadways has also gone up as the authorities can now count the number of passengers travelling in GPS-enabled buses at any point of time. "The revenue has gone up by five
to 10 per cent in the last about one year," said Parneet Singh.
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Senior Addl A-G not on list of law officers
Chandigarh, October 31 Senior Additional Advocate-General Khosla was virtually all-in-all in the Advocate-General's office as Mattewal's confidants remained in the backdrop till the administrative committee remained in force till senior advocate Baldev Singh was appointed Advocate-General. After he resigned, senior advocate Ashok Aggarwal was appointment. His appointment at the fag end of the SAD-led government's previous tenure, in fact, came as a surprise to many in the legal fraternity as the general perception was that Khosla would be made the Advocate-General. Available information suggests his name was not included in the list as the government has decided to do away with the post of Senior Additional Advocate-General. Some other prominent names which do not find mention in the list this time are Paramjit Singh Thiara and Suvir Sehgal. Another unique feature of the list is that the Advocate-General's office, for the first time in recallable past, will have four designated senior advocates. Besides Advocate-General Ashok Aggarwal himself, the other senior advocates are Amit Rawal, Sanjeev Sharma and Atul Lakhanpal. The Advocate-General's office, functioning under the administrative committee with Khosla at the helm of affairs, had courted controversies. Only in March, 2011, Justice LN Mittal had minced no words to say great difficulty and inconvenience was being experienced in Punjab cases. "Either the law officer does not appear, or the law officer is not prepared with the case, or the law officer does not have the necessary documents, forcing unnecessary adjournments". Justice Mittal had earlier also asked state Principal Secretary, Home, to intervene after making it clear that bringing the problem to Additional Advocate-General Rupinder Khosla's notice had proved to be an exercise in futility. Virtually passing strictures, Justice Mittal added: "It appears the situation has not improved much, though there is some improvement".
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Villagers take to pressure tactics to highlight plight of schools
Sangrur, October 31 At least three such incidents of locking of school gates have been reported in the district in the past about one-and-a-half month. These schools are located at Jhaloor (near Lehra), Banarasi (near Khanauri) and Gobindgarh Khokhar (near Lehra) villages. The villagers say they take such steps only when the authorities failed to pay any heed to their demands. In Government High School, Jhaloor, there were only two teachers for over 220 students. On September 12, the villagers locked the school gate and blocked the road in front of the school to highlight the issue. Following this, two teachers were posted at the school. Similarly, after residents of Banarasi village locked Government Middle School in the village on September 17 to protest non-availability of any teacher despite five sanctioned posts, the authorities posted two teachers in the school. On October 19, villagers locked Government Senior Secondary School, Gobindgarh Khokhar. The school has 20 sanctioned posts. Of these, 12 posts, including that of principal, were vacant. After the protest, the Education Department posted four teachers in the school. Sarpanch of Khokhar Kalan village Malkeet Kaur and sarpanch of Banarasi village Suresh Kumar said sending children to schools having inadequate staff served no purpose. The government was not paying proper attention to schools in rural areas, they said, adding that all vacant posts should be immediately filled. Sources said in 87 government senior secondary schools of the district, 14 posts of principal and 140 (out of 601) of lecturer of subjects like physics, chemistry, biology, commerce, economics, political science have been lying vacant. In 108 government high schools, more than 55 posts of headmaster and around 270 posts (out of 3,700) of master cadre have been lying vacant. Over 84,750 students have been getting education in 350 senior secondary, high and middle schools of the district. DEO (Elementary) Sher Singh said there were 671 government primary schools in the district. Out of 1,237 sanctioned posts of ETT teacher, 82 were vacant and out of 51 posts of centre head teacher, 24 were vacant while out of 272 posts of head teacher, 83 were vacant. He said there was no school with a single teacher in the district as they had appointed sikhiya karmis along with teachers in such schools. In bad shape
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Sikh clergy yet to discuss norms for transporting religious books
Amritsar, October 31 His statement has come in the aftermath of an incident in which Satkar Committee members had stopped a consignment of religious books of a local publisher while objecting to the way it was being transported to
Rajasthan. Time to act
The jathedar said the issue had been deliberated in the past and some resolutions too were passed, but it needed to be reviewed in the present context. While the Akal Takht and SGPC have initiated various measures to ensure that no sacrilege is committed in either publishing or transporting Guru Granth Sahib, there are no clear guidelines for the transportation of "gutkas" containing gurbani and other religious books having contents from gurbani. The Akal Takht had issued a "hukumnama" (edict) on May 9, 1998, directing that the SGPC had sole rights for printing "birs" of Guru Granth Sahib in order to prevent "blasphemous" acts of private publishers. The edict issued by Akal Takht made it clear that only the SGPC, Delhi Gurdwara Management Committee or any other publisher, with the permission of Akal Takht, could publish the holy book. As far as transportation is concerned, the SGPC had in the past sent "birs" of Guru Granth Sahib abroad on chartered flights. In April last year, the SGPC even sent 450 "birs" of Guru Granth Sahib to Italy by ship. The "birs" were first sent to Mumbai in a special AC bus and later the same bus was boarded in a special cabin in the passenger section of the ship. All these efforts were made to maintain "maryada" while transporting the holy book in view of the incidents like a private publisher reportedly ferrying "birs" of Guru Granth Sahib in a goods train.
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Sukhbir to lead business delegation to Pakistan
Sources said Sukhbir would undertake a four-day visit to Pakistan accompanied by a 30-member team of industrialists and traders, including representatives of the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry and businessmen from Amritsar.
Sukhbir is scheduled to participate in a meeting of the Punjab (Pakistan) Board of Investment and Trade along with Pakistan Punjab’s Chief Minister on November 6. Efforts would be made to persuade the Pakistan Government to remove various items on the negative list. Efforts are also likely to be made to streamline trade across the Wagah border. The sources said the Deputy CM would also attend sport events. Principal Secretary PS Aujla had visited Pakistan recently to finalise participation of Indian Punjab teams at the Punjab Games (in
kabaddi, wrestling, tug of war, hockey). Sukhbir would also attend the fifth edition of Asia Cup being held in Pakistan on November 5. Efforts by NGOs and Lahore citizens to accord recognition to martyr Bhagat Singh by renaming a roundabout in the Shadman area as Bhagat Singh Chowk have suffered a setback. Dr Chaman
Lal, who is in touch with Pakistan’s NGOs, said the renaming had been put on hold. Dr Chaman Lal said at a public hearing recently, 13 persons had said it was not appropriate to rename the chowk after Bhagat Singh in an Islamic country and had warned of a stir if their sentiments were disregarded. The matter will now be forwarded to a committee preparing a project to revitalise Lahore by restoring its historical buildings.This committee has a sub-committee which is tasked with renaming roads and squares keeping in mind their historical significance.
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Farmers face spectre of
distress sale
Malout, October 31 They, however, claim that the government has already lifted as much paddy as it did last year. “I have been waiting for the past 20 days for the agencies to procure my produce (nearly 600 quintals). Throughout the day, we keep winnowing the paddy to keep it dry. However, after dusk, the dew makes the paddy soggy. I am thinking of taking the produce back home,” said a desperate Teja Singh of Shergarh village in Malout. “The shellers are offering to lift paddy at a measly Rs 300 per quintal whereas the minimum support price (MSP) is Rs 1,280,” he added. Another farmer Baldev Singh left the grain market with nearly 124 quintals of paddy after a wait of 19 days. Harpal Singh of Abul Khurana village, camping at the grain market for the past three weeks, said: “I will either have to take the produce back home or resort to distress sale.” Muktsar Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Amardeep Singla, who was at the grain market, said: “There are concerns about the quality of produce that have to be addressed. Nevertheless, we are trying to ensure that the entire stock is lifted in the minimum possible time.”
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Prepaid meter scheme on anvil
Patiala, October 31 PSPCL Chairman cum Managing Director KD Chaudhari said as many as 35,000 single-phase meters and 10,000 three-phase meters would be installed in the first phase. Chaudhari said, “With the prepaid meter, the consumer can regulate his consumption and see the balance left on it. It is more or less similar to cell phone recharge coupons. We expect that with prepaid meters, consumers will not waste power unnecessarily.” He said prepaid meters would give a warning signal when the amount on it is about to get exhausted. “Apart from fitting government departments with prepaid meters, we would also extend the facility to those seeking temporary connections at fairs etc,” he said, while adding that Expression of Interest had already been called and once the tendering process was complete, installation of the meters would get underway. At present, power consumers in the state have to pay a bimonthly bill. Although the PSPCL management feels that the money paid in advance would be profitable for the organisation, some officials said new system would not attract consumers for the same reason that consumers would have to pay in advance. Some states, including New Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh had already introduced prepaid electricity meters on a
trial basis.
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Unpaid Ludhiana contractors halt work on flats for poor
Ludhiana, October 31 Highly placed sources in the Local Bodies Department said that an amount of Rs 8.32 crore sent by centre government for this project, has been diverted by the state for some other project. The construction of over 5,000 two-room flats began in October 2009. As many as 1,664 flats located in Giaspura, Jamalpur and Dhandari areas of the city, were readied around a year back. Construction of the remaining flats is still underway with 50-60 percent of the work completed. A contractor said they have not been paid in the last eight months. "An amount of Rs 8.32 crore was sanctioned for the project by the central government a few months ago. But instead of paying us, the state government diverted the funds enamed. Another contracted said, “As we haven’t been able to pay sub-contractors, our credibility in the market has suffered. People have stopped providing us with the building material on credit. That is why we have suspended work on the project.” When coo-contractors, our credibility in the market has suffered. People have stopped providing us with the building material on credit. That is why we have suspended work on the project." When contacted, Municipal Corporation Commissioner Rakesh Kumar Verma said the state government would release the funds soon and the contractors' payment will also be cleared. Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari, who is also the local MP, said, "It's not the first time the state government has diverted funds. Several thousand crore rupees have been misused by the state government on earlier occasions also."
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Mittal to visit ailing Batala
Chandigarh, October 31 Mittal, when questioned at a press conference in this regard, said the Director, Health Services, had already been sent to
Batala. He said since preliminary findings had revealed that diseases had spread in the area as drinking water had been contaminated with sewage, he had written to the Chief Secretary to hold an inter-departmental meeting in this regard. Earlier, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal distributed Rs 1 lakh each among the kin of the victims.
Mittal said the Batala deaths were “very unfortunate”. He said 426 persons in the state had been affected by dengue so far. The minister announced that a cancer awareness campaign across Punjab would begin from December 1. He said a pilot project in Faridkot had revealed that cancer cases were on the rise but the situation was not alarming. Mittal said 2,950 suspected cases of cancer that had been identified would be given appropriate treatment by specialists at the secondary and tertiary level. The Health Minister said that Rs 56 crore had been distributed among cancer patients in the state in the past 18 months and 5,212 patients had been able to get treatment with the funds. Also present at the press meet was Vini
Mahajan, Principal Secretary, Health.
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Policewomen in civvies deployed to check crime
Patiala, October 31 Developed by Patiala Range IG Paramjit Singh Gill, this new strategy was brought in place around a few months ago. Gill said that after a few brainstorming sessions with top officials, it was decided to constitute special squads of women police personnel. He said that the squads, backed up by the police force, were deployed at sensitive areas in the city to trap criminals. “Though, we have not separately tabulated the number of arrests made by the squads, reports available with me suggest that the ‘invisible force’ has started showing results,” he said. At present, there are 241 women constables in Patiala, out of which 35 are currently undergoing training at Punjab Police Academy, Phillaur, while 69 are training in the field in Patiala. Moreover, there are 24 women head constables, five women Assistant Sub Inspectors, nine women Sub Inspectors and one woman Inspector posted
in Patiala.
Crime Stats
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Amarinder threatens to gherao mandis
Chandigarh, October 31 Capt Amarinder warned that if the issue was not addressed immediately, the Congress would gherao mandis across the state. He said Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, who claimed to be the guardian of farmers' interests, had failed the farmers of his own district and constituency. In a statement, the PPCC chief said not only the farmers had to wait for days at a stretch to get their paddy lifted, but also grease the palms of “corrupt officials patronised by corrupt Akali jathedars.” He said the farmers from Muktsar district, including those from the Chief Minister’s native village, Badal, had to stage a protest for timely payment of their produce. — TNS
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PGI satellite centre at Ferozepur soon
Chandigarh, October 31 Stating this here today, Ferozepur MLA Parminder Singh said the development was conveyed to him by the Union Health Secretary. He said health facilities in Ferozepur and the entire border area belt were in a bad shape. He said people from the region had to rush to cities like
Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar in case of an emergency. Parminder Singh said the excessive use of pesticides had wreaked havoc on the health of the people. The problem was acute for those belonging to the weaker sections as they could not afford quality treatment. He said cancer patients had to go to Bikaner for treatment. The Congress legislator said he had approached Union Health Minister Gulam Nabi Azad with a request to set up a satellite centre of the
PGI. He said the SAD-BJP government should rise above party politics and provide land for the project which
would be funded entirely by the Centre.
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No-trust motion against Khera samiti
chairman
Bassi Pathana, October 31 All the 12 members present during the meeting held today at the office of Sub Divisional Officer at Bassi Pathana voted in favour of the motion. The meeting was chaired by Sub Divisional Magistrate Sukhdev Singh
Mahal. Over 13 members of the samiti had unanimously passed a no-confidence motion against the chairman of the
samiti, Satnam Singh Brass on September 27. However, as the members had not followed legal procedure and not given prior notice to the chairman before passing the motion, the meeting was fixed for today.
— TNS
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16 Ropar colonies declared illegal
Ropar, October 31 Till now 16 such colonies have been marked and the boards declaring them illegal were put up on the spot by the municipal committee so that buyers could not be fleeced by the developers. These illegal colonies are being carved out on roads leading to Morinda, Kurali and places near Sukhram Tappoarian village, Shahid Bhagat Singh Nagar and Haveli Kalan.
— TNS
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No vulgar songs in buses: Minister
Chandigarh October 31 The Minister reiterated that the Punjab Government was committed to provide best transport services to its people. It was imperative for the officers concerned to ensure proper and forceful implementation of the instructions in larger public interest, he said, adding random surprise checks would be conducted to check the menace.
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HC rejects plea to auction mining site
Chandigarh, October 31 As the case came up for resumed hearing, the Punjab Government counsel claimed that environmental clearance had been obtained for carrying out mining. The Bench, however, questioned the state on mechanism evolved to implement 32 specific conditions and 21 general conditions for environmental clearance. The Bench indicated that without the mechanism in place to prevent environmental degradation, it was not too keen to allow mining in the state if it was causing. The state counsel, on the other hand, asked the court to allow mining for a specific duration as a ban was resulting in illegal mining, causing loss to the exchequer. Rapping the state on its knuckles, the Bench refused to accept the argument that illegal mining would thrive, if it was not legally allowed. The Bench added it had not banned mining, but had merely issued directions that mining could not be carried out without proper environmental clearance and implementation of conditions imposed in it.
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2 turn hostile in graft case against former minister
Mohali, October 31 In the ongoing corruption case involving purchase of defective JCB machines on higher rates, the witnesses, Gurbaksh Singh, Block Development Panchayat Officer and clerk Surjit Singh had earlier given statements that JCB machines in question were not functioning properly and had been purchased on higher rates. Today Gurbaksh Singh and Surjit Singh turned hostile. Gurbaksh said there was nothing objectionable in the purchase of the JCB machines in question and that these had been functioning properly. Kahlon was also present in the court today. The court recorded the statements of both the witnesses and set December 5 the next hearing date. Last year, Kahlon was acquitted in another corruption case, which was filed by the Vigilance Department, for amassing disproportionate assets from known and unknown sources besides taking bribe in the recruitment of 909 panchayat secretaries and drivers.
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The People’s Party of Punjab (PPP) was today hit by a fresh revolt with its office secretary and media in charge Arunjot Singh Sodhi challenging the leadership of Manpreet Singh Badal.
Sodhi, who held a meeting in this regard along with martyr Sukhdev’s nephew Bharat Bhushan Thapar and Kulwant Singh Lohgrah, party’s district president from Barnala, claimed that he had the support of 90 per cent of the party’s founder members and called a meeting of these members on December 16.
Two employees of the Amritsar Arms Licensing branch Harwinder Singh and Vikas were today suspended for their alleged involvement in the fake arms licence scam.
With this development, the role of three staff members of this branch has come under the scanner.
Malout, October 31
Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) will introduce prepaid electricity meters in government departments and provide them to those seeking temporary connections in the next few months.
PSPCL Chairman cum Managing Director KD Chaudhari said as many as 35,000 single-phase meters and 10,000 three-phase meters would be installed in the first phase.
Chaudhari said, “With the prepaid meter, the consumer can regulate his consumption and see the balance left on it. It is more or less similar to cell phone recharge coupons. We expect that with prepaid meters, consumers will not waste power unnecessarily.”
Contractors have stopped work on flats being built for the urban poor under the National Urban Renewal Mission
(JNNURM) in the city after not having been paid for the last eight months.
Ironically, the state government plans to spend over Rs 3,000 crore for the overall development of
Ludhiana. Highly placed sources in the Local Bodies Department said that an amount of Rs 8.32 crore sent by centre government for this project, has been diverted by the state for some other project.
Health Minister Madan Mohan Mittal today said he would visit Batala for an on-the-spot assessment in the wake of the death of 42 persons due to gastroenteritis and other
causes. Mittal, when questioned at a press conference in this regard, said the Director, Health Services, had already been sent to
Batala. He said since preliminary findings had revealed that diseases had spread in the area as drinking water had been contaminated with sewage, he had written to the Chief Secretary to hold an inter-departmental meeting in this regard.
Jalandhar, October 31
The roadways has a strong fleet of about 1,700 buses. Over 700 of these vehicles, the ones operated under the kilometer scheme, Punbus vehicles and AC buses, are already GPS-enabled. The project was initiated about one-and-a-half years ago and now every new bus is equipped with the monitoring system.
Chandigarh, October 31