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Monumental neglect
in patiala
moga
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Attari’s memorial to be beautified
Minor girl ‘beaten up’ over a trifle
3 of family die in accident near Faridkot
Ex-DGP Gill’s confidant joins hands with Sathi
Akali Dal’s development plank farce: Chaudhary
Environmental toxicity in state high: Experts
Engineers to launch stir against power corp
Pak SIM cards seized from smuggler
2 years on, new Ropar bus stand yet to be built
Sangrur residents’ grievances ignored for 15 months
Community centre in Ropar rented out at a steep price
Soon, Wi-Fi internet access at Bathinda courts
6,583 people challaned in Sangrur in January
No trace of Patti
sisters
LPU inks pact with US varsities
Rape accused sent to 3-day police custody
6 booked for human trafficking in Patiala
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Monumental neglect
in patiala
Patiala, February 10
Once the residence of the erstwhile royal family of Patiala, the fort with a commanding entrance and intricate arches is dying a slow death owing to neglect by the authorities. “In my knowledge, nothing has been done for the past several years to carry out restoration work inside the fort,” said a senior Archaeological Department functionary. The fort, known as ‘Narha Durgh’, is losing appeal and is no longer one of the top tourist destinations in the state. For this, the Department of Cultural Affairs, Archaeology and Museums and the Archaeological Survey of India are much to be blamed. Sources said many a time officials visited the fort, but the state government did not release enough funds for restoration works. “Contractors are reluctant to start work as the promised payment is usually delayed because of red-tapism. We undertook some work in 2005 and 2009, but it was negligible," said a government official. The foundation stone for the fort was laid by the founder of the Patiala dynasty, Ala Singh, in 1754. It was completed by his grandson and successor Maharaja Amar Singh in 1763. Later, it came to be known as the "fort of triumph". “The buildings inside the fort once reflected a blend of Rajasthani, Pahari and Mughal cultures with its art work in the Guler style. The fort is associated with Sikh culture and needs to be preserved if we want the coming generations to take pride in their history,” said Malvinder Singh, who belongs to the royal family of Patiala. “We have some funds earmarked in the 13th Finance Commission, which are yet to be drawn, and only then will the restoration work start,” said SS Channy, Financial Commissioner, Cultural Affairs, Archives and Archaeology. The inner portion of the fort had beautiful mirrors. Historians recall how a single source of light could create magic inside the fort. There are no mirrors now. The intricately designed ceiling is coming off, the stone carvings are gone and the main gate is in a shambles. In 2005, the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) held a “Patiala evening” at Nehru Cultural Centre, London, to showcase the archival material recovered from the fort. Financial Commissioner (Tourism) Geetika Kalha said that with funding from the Centre, restoration work would be started soon. Malvinder Singh said he would take up the matter with the Union Government to ensure adequate funds for the fort. “We need Rs 100 crore or more to get the fort back into shape”, he added.
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moga
bypoLll
Moga, February 10 Sukhbir said the Union Government had already decontrolled the fertiliser sector, something that had led to a two-fold hike in DAP prices over the past six months. “The Centre has also decontrolled diesel prices and now they are further going to cut subsidy on fertilisers. These steps will sound the death knell for the already-dwindling agriculture sector,” he said. The Deputy Chief Minister also demanded Rs 2,200 per quintal as MSP for wheat in view of the rising cost of agricultural inputs. “If immediate steps are not initiated, farmers will be pushed deeper in the debt trap, which can create socio-economic problems,” he warned. Instead of implementing the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission, he alleged, the Centre had been serving multi-national companies, which had been raising prices at will. He alleged that the UPA government’s ill-conceived policies had reduced the country’s economic growth to 5 per cent whereas inflation had already crossed the double-digit figure. Questioning the silence of the Punjab Congress on these issues, Sukhbir said their silence was “indicative of the fact that they were aloof from the sufferings of the state people”. The SAD chief also addressed gatherings at Darapur, Chotian Kalan, Chotian Khurd and Budh Singh Wala villages, besides three locations in Moga city. Post-withdrawal, 10 left in the fray Chandigarh: Battle-lines have been drawn for the Moga assembly seat byelection with 10 candidates remaining in the fray after the last day of the withdrawal of nominations on Saturday. An Independent candidate withdrew his nomination at the last moment. The main contest is being considered between Joginder Pal Jain of the SAD, Vijay Kumar Sathi of the Congress and Ravinder Singh Dhaliwal of the People's Party of Punjab. The bypoll was necessitated after Jain had quit the assembly seat — he had won on the Congress ticket in last year's assembly elections — on December 26 and joined the SAD. The Congress leadership, led by state Congress president Amarinder Singh, has been urging Moga voters to “punish turncoat” Jain. “He has betrayed the Moga people who had elected him only last year. He should be punished,” Singh said. But, Jain defends his decision saying that he quit the Congress due to the functioning style of Congress leaders and also because “dissidence was being encouraged” against him. — IANS Congress leader joins Akali Dal Jagroop Singh Takhtupura, former Moga unit president of the Congress, on Sunday joined the ruling SAD along with his supporters in the presence of SAD chief Sukhbir Badal. Jagroop organised a gathering of his supporters at his residence, which was presided over by Sukhbir Badal. Takhtupura is the second main Congress leader to join the SAD after Navdeep Singh Sangha, Moga (city) president of the Congress, who had switched loyalty last week.
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Attari’s memorial to be beautified
Amritsar, February 10 “Adequate funds will be provided for the restoration work. Also, Rs 2 lakh each would be spent on the construction of Sham Singh Attari Museum and for holding sports events at the memorial site,” he said. Paying tributes to the great warrior, the minister called upon the youth to emulate their brave forefathers and wage a war against social evils. “It is time to fight a war against drugs and other social evils besides protecting our borders so as to bring glory to our state and the country.The Punjab Government is committed to preserving historical places. Be it Chappar Chiri, Chhota Ghallughara or Wada Ghallughara”, he added. Earlier, Majithia, accompanied by Rattan Singh Ajnala, Member of Parliament, Rajmohinder Majitha, former Member of the Rajya Sabha, Gulzar Singh Ranike, former Cabinet Minister, Rajat Aggarwal, Deputy Commissioner, Col Kuldip Singh, Chairman Sham Singh Attariwala Trust, and Col Harinder Singh Attari, laid wreaths at the martyr's statue at Nariangarh Chowk. A contingent of the Punjab Police paid tributes to the great warrior.
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Minor girl ‘beaten up’ over a trifle
Fatehgarh Sahib, February 10 The girl's father, in his complaint to the police, said his daughter Laado was cleaning utensils and the filthy water flowed into the nearby fields. Infuriated, the landowner's son beat her up with a stick.The screaming girl ran inside her house and bolted the door. But the accused broke the door and thrashed her mercilessly. He said his daughter narrated the incident to her cousin who took her to the panchayat members and lodged a complaint. When the two were returning home, they were intercepted by the accused, his brother and father and beaten up. However, they were rescued by passers-by. The two reported the matter to the police. Station House officer Devender Attri said investigation into the case was on.
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3 of family die in accident near Faridkot
Faridkot, February 10 The deceased have been identified as Nisha, her daughter Heena, sister Dolly and driver Goldy. The rescuers faced a lot of difficulty in extricating the bodies of the deceased from the car wreckage. The condition of six of the injured was stated to be critical.
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Ex-DGP Gill’s confidant joins hands with Sathi
Moga, February 10 Popularly called Gora Sood, he said: "I will support Vijay Sathi because he is an honest man. I knew his father the late Sathi Roop Lal for the past five decades. The Sathi family enjoys a good reputation." He said he had managed Gill's election in the last elections only because Gill was "honest, upright and a gentleman." He said the situation was different now as the SAD had fielded Jain who had a shady background. He said the SAD decision to include Jain into the party fold and then allot him the party ticket was a murder of democracy. "The SAD-BJP Government had arrested Jain after coming to power in 2007. Now, it is supporting him." He said at a time when a campaign was on in the country to cleanse politics of corrupt politicians, the SAD decision to patronise Jain had sent out the wrong signals to the public. To a question, Sood said he would not join the Congress but there was no bar on him extending support to its candidate at a personal level. "I have met CWC member Jagmeet Singh Brar and promised to support Sathi. I told him that I would not join the Congress," he said. " The time has come for the people of Moga to reject those with a shady background and serve as a role model for other voters in the country."
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Akali Dal’s development plank farce: Chaudhary
Moga, February 10 He asked SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal to come out with the statistics of development projects undertaken by the SAD-BJP government and those funded by the UPA government like six/four-laning of national highways. Chaudhary alleged Punjab was in the thick of the drug menace due official-criminal nexus facilitated by the Akalis. “The government is not following the directions of the high court while auctioning mines, which is being done for the sole purpose of earning profits at the cost of the common man”, he said. The government has also failed on the law and order front, he said, adding the cases of rape, abduction and looting had become rampant across the state. The state Youth Congress president appealed to the people of the Moga assembly segment to come out in support of Congress candidate Vijay Sathi. Sathi’s appeal to docs Vijay Sathi on Sunday addressed a function organised by the Indian Medical Association (IMA). He appealed to the doctors to vote for him since he was an honest politician with a clean image. He promised the doctors that he would work for the constituency with dedication. He also addressed many “nukkar sabhas” and went door-to-door in many localities of the city.
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Environmental toxicity in state high: Experts
Faridkot, February 10 Some scientists were of the opinion that all the three major types of toxicity —chemical, radiation and biological — were rampant in Punjab. A section of doctors observed that government spending on the public health care in the state was far from satisfactory. “The adverse effects of toxicity on animals and humans are visible and some studies have proved this. It is clear that Punjab is in a deep ecological crisis for rampant use of chemicals and pesticide in agriculture,” said Dr SS Gill, Vice Chancellor, Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS). The event was organised jointly by BFUHS and the Punjab Academy of Sciences. More than 1,200 delegates participated in the Punjab Science Congress. The focus of discussions was the crisis that the state faced on the health front and ways by which the state could become a partner with established leaders in science and technology and emerge as the region’s innovation powerhouse. Dr Ramandeep Singh Dang, a neuro-surgeon and coordinator of the Punjab Science Congress, said the Children’s Science Congress was also organised in Faridkot in which over 3,000 children participated. The aim was to nurture talent in science, he added.
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Engineers to launch stir against power corp
Patiala, February 10 The date of the proposed agitation is yet to be announced. During an emergent meeting of the executive committee of the association held today, members said engineers were fatigued and working under great stress. Association president Baldev Singh Sran said the rationalisation of work load norms and span control was imperative for the growth of the organisation and for ensuring quality power supply to consumers. The committee also criticised the decision of the PSPCL management to stall the rationalisation of the organisational structure vis-a-vis work load norms. “Failure of the management to reorganise the IT organisations has already caused immense revenue loss to the corporation. “There has also been complete failure in the procurement of meters. However, management has failed to learn any lessons and has not reorganised these two critical functions,” said Sran. Sran further said, “Sub-station Engineers are managing 30-35 grids against the sanctioned norms of managing 4-6 grids. “PSPCL has failed to build adequate 66-KV sub-transmission capacity for the transmission of power from the upcoming generating stations to consumers. “The PSPCL on many occasions has not been able to disburse available power to state consumers due to overloaded grid sub-stations.” Association general secretary Sanjeev Sood said, “The management has severely delayed the execution of 1320-MW Mukerian Thermal Project. “Even after obtaining an approval from the Punjab Government nearly one-and-half years ago, tenders are yet to be called for appointing consultants who would carry out preliminary studies and clearances for the project.”
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Pak SIM cards seized from smuggler
Ferozepur, February 10 The police had recovered 8 kg of heroin worth Rs 40 crore from the accused's house on January 23 and arrested his wife. Police sources said Malkit Singh was believed to have links with Pakistan-based drug peddlers. He had smuggled into the country 14 kg of heroin, of which 6 kg had been seized from him earlier and a case under the NDPS Act slapped on him.
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2 years on, new Ropar bus stand yet to be built
Ropar, February 10 In 2007, it was decided that the bus stand situated in front of the Nehru stadium on Ropar-Jalandhar road would be shifted out of the town. In January 2008, Ropar Deputy Commissioner at the time announced that the site near Nirankari Bhawan had been finalised for the project. The site, however, had to be abandoned after the administration had a dispute with the land owners. Later, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on June 15, 2011, approved the site at Transport Nagar for the new bus stand. It is owned by Ropar Improvement Trust. It was decided that the Improvement Trust would transfer 6.5 acres of land in its Transport Nagar Scheme to the Transport Department for the construction of the bus stand. According to the proposal, GMADA was to construct the administration block and the workshop on the new site and Punjab Infrastructure Development Board (PIDB) was to build the bus stand on build, own, operate and transfer basis. In lieu of the land at the new site, the Transport Department will transfer five acres of its land at the Punjab Roadways Ropar Depot workshop to the Improvement Trust. Two acres of land at the present bus stand will be handed over to GMADA against the cost incurred by it on the construction of the administration block and the workshop. However things did not go as planned and nothing has been done for more than two-and-a-half-years. Meanwhile, commuters do not even have access to basic amenities at the bus stand. It is dotted with stagnated pools of water and it doesn’t have a toilet and access to drinking water. Two leaking shelters are built to provide a waiting area. Ropar Deputy Commissioner PK Aggrawal said, GMADA, PIDB, the Improvement Trust and Punjab Roadways were working in coordination to get the project going. The construction on the new site would begin soon, he said.
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Sangrur residents’ grievances ignored for 15 months
Sangrur, February 10 Moreover, the committee hasn’t been reconstituted since April last year. Earlier, the meetings weren’t held due to the assembly elections. Non-official members of the committee helped resolve the grievances of people in the area. These members include members of recognised political parties, representatives of freedom fighters, ex-servicemen, backward classes, scheduled castes, women and youth, Muslims, Christians, nambardars, Bharatiya Kisan Union. Those who have contributed in the fields of social work, trade, industry and agriculture are also nominated as non-offical members. Sources said on November 20, 2012, the secretary, Grievances, Punjab, had sent a reminder to the district administration to recommend the names of people to be nominated as non-official members in the committee. He had also said the committee could not be constituted in time since he hadn’t received the list. This month the department had again written to the district administration to send the list of names but to no avail. Even the Deputy Commissioner has asked the administration repeatedly to do the same but no action has been taken in the matter. — TNS
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Community centre in Ropar rented out at a steep price
Anandpur Sahib, February 10 The contractor managing the centre has been charging Rs 30,000 for the building hall against the stipulated price of Rs 5,000. The centre built to provide space to people at a low price was leased out by the civic body to generate funds a few years ago. The contractor was told to charge Rs 5,000 to rent out the hall in the building. When inquired, contractor Sukhdeep Singh quoted Rs 30,000 as rent. Despite charging the exorbitant price, the building was badly maintained and unhygienic. Even local MLA and Health Minister Madan Mohan Mittal, who had visited the centre last month, directed the local authorities to get its act together. However, the administration has failed to do the needful. The Anandpur Sahib Municipal Council executive officer Anil Kumar Jindal said the contractor was bound to charge Rs 5,000 for renting out the hall. He, however, could demand extra money for other optional services, he added.
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Soon, Wi-Fi internet access at Bathinda courts
Bathinda, February 10 Gurwinder Mann, general secretary of the Bar Association, said the system was in the pipeline for sometime and it would be made practical within the next few days or so. The lawyers interested in using the internet would be provided with passwords to gain access to the system. "The main coverage area of the Wi-Fi would be the courts complex, with special attention on the chambers for lawyers," Mann said. The idea behind making the DAC Wi-Fi is to speed up the process of exchanging personal or court-related data of the lawyers and to use the internet to download legal reports and other information. Since a Wi-Fi system is less secure as compared to the wired system, a meeting of all the lawyers interested in availing of the facility would be called. "We will issue passwords to the lawyers and will ensure that no lawyer shares it with any outsider in order to maintain privacy," Mann said. The security of the internet connection will also be given emphasis. Special software and hardware will also be installed to prevent anyone from hacking the system. Mann said though the amount to install the system was not much, they were planning to charge maintenance cost and other expenses. “The facility will be provided at a nominal cost,” he said.
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6,583 people challaned in Sangrur in January
As many as 427 people were challaned for triple riding, 76 challaned for wrong parking and 5,530 for committing other violations. Bhullar said 30 special traffic awareness camps were being organised in the district to reduce the number of accidents in the district. He said more than 18,000 persons had been provided information about traffic rules. He also appealed to people to obey traffic rules and keep updated documents of their vehicles with them.
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Tarn Taran, February 10 The police has registered a kidnapping case under Section 365 of the IPC against unidentified persons on the statement of the girls’ father. Sisters, identified as Simarjit Kaur (15) and Prabhjit Kaur (13), belong to a Dalit family. Girls’ father Suba Singh, a daily wager, told the police that his daughters had been missing since January 29. The girls studied at a local school. Sub-Inspector Inderjit Singh, Investigation Officer, said the missing girls’ father approached the police on Saturday. The police has registered a case and started its investigation to trace the girls.
—OC
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LPU inks pact with US varsities
Jalandhar, February 10 The MoU was signed with a 21-member delegation that included a Senator, academicians and industrialists. The memorandum signed with the US universities focuses on student exchange programmes, research proposals and collaborative degree programmes. University Chancellor Ashok Mittal said the university aimed to partner with universities from across the globe. The Senior Vice-President, Iowa State University, Dr Jonathan Adam Wickert said the Jalandhar university was an ideal choice "in our pursuit to bring our academic expertise and experience to India.”
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Rape accused sent to 3-day police custody Jalandhar, February 10 The three now also face charges under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offence Act, 2012, said Senior Superintendent of Police (Rural) Yurinder Singh Hayer. The police had on February 6 registered a case under Sections 376 and 365 of the IPC against the accused on the complaint of the victim's father. The 14-year-old victim, recovering at a hospital in Amritsar, was not in a condition to give her statement to the police, claimed Rajinder Singh, who heads the special investigation team (SIT) looking into the case.
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6 booked for human trafficking in Patiala
Patiala, February 10 Following a complaint by the girl’s father Fauji Bablu, the Tripuri police registered a case pertaining against Mukesh Kumar, Chotte Lal, Sonia, Subeg Singh, Ram Gopal and Rani. “We will find out more after the accused are questioned,” said Tripuri Station House Officer (SHO) Karan Sher Singh. “It is feared that all the accused allegedly took her to UP after drugging her. She was allegedly sold to one of the accused Mukesh Kumar’s sister there,” he added. Police is conducting raids to arrest the accused. — TNS
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Qila Mubarak, the only fort built by a Sikh ruler, withstood several attacks in its over 250-year history.
Moga, February 10
Amritsar, February 10
Faridkot, February 10
Doctors and scientists from various parts of the country, who were here to attend a three-day Punjab Science Congress, today said that environmental toxicity in Punjab was high.
Reason for worry
Sangrur, February 10