|
|
|
|
|
Toilet turned into office at Muktsar DAC
Bar Assn elections court controversy
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Former spy fights for freedom fighter status, financial aid
A former spy Upendra Nath was honoured by Irrigation Minister Janmeja Singh Sekhon during the Independence Day function at Ferozepur last year. A Tribune photograph Jain’s kin seek stay on arrest warrant
|
|
Toilet turned into office at Muktsar DAC
Muktsar, March 17 For the last one and half years, the lone female toilet on the ground floor of the District Administrative Complex (DAC) has been closed and converted into an office, but foul smell still emanates from it due to the leaking drain pipes laid beneath the marble floor. Moreover, the office does not even have its own entrance and people have to enter from the court of the Additional Deputy Commissioner to hand over their applications. The bathroom tiles and water tap are still visible on the walls, but the staff, including two female clerks, and two sevadars sit there to perform their duty of receiving and dispatching the letters of the Deputy Commissioner and the Additional Deputy Commissioner. During a recent visit to this office, pale yellow colour water was seen accumulated on the floor, which was is damaging the iron almirahs kept there to store important documents. The staff deployed there said they daily receive a large number of complaints from the public, but they were unable to lodge their own complaint before anyone. A woman clerk said, "People laugh at us, when they come here and ask a number of questions about the miserable condition of the office, which has not been even completely renovated. Only some wooden articles, chairs and tables have been provided to help us perform our duty." A senior official of the district said the toilet was converted into the office before his transfer, but the step might have been taken due to the lack of rooms at the DAC. It may be mentioned that the condition of the court of the Additional Deputy Commissioner was also not satisfactory. One of its door was found missing and some garbage was also found dumped inside the courtroom. Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) NS Bath admitted that the office was in poor condition and said, "We will bring the issue to the notice of PWD officials and ask them to renovate it at the earliest and give it a separate entrance."
|
||
|
Bar Assn elections court controversy
Faridkot, March 17 Now, the matter has reached the chairman, Bar Council, Punjab and Haryana, who has called both the groups to Chandigarh on March 19 to decide the issue. Last week, in a representation sent to the chairman, 62 advocates in Faridkot said the Bar Association was not following the proper procedure for the election to be held on April 5. In the election for the Bar Association, the votes are cast for five posts, but in Faridkot, only the president is elected and he nominates the other four office-bearers, thus enjoying absolute power in the functioning of the Bar Association, said Vinod Monga, one of signatories to the representation made to the chairman. Kulwinder Singh Sekhon, the incumbent president of the Bar Association, Faridkot, said a meeting of advocates has been called for Monday to sort out the issue. The office-bearers of the Association are elected every year through secret ballot. A member enrolled with the Association is entitled to vote. Every member, by way of a single non-transferable vote for each position, participates in the election. The elected members remain in the office for a period of one year. |
||
|
Former spy fights for freedom fighter status, financial aid
Ferozepur, March 17 However, these “unofficial spies” who were ostensibly sent to Pakistan for espionage, are today fighting an altogether different battle, not against any enemy but against red-tape and the government's unwillingness to acknowledge their services. One such former undercover agent, Upendra Nath, who claims to have been recruited by an intelligence agency to infiltrate into Pakistan, narrated how after being tortured by the Pakistanis for several years, he has been disowned by his own government. During the last several years, Nath shot off many letters to the various state and central government authorities pleading that his services to the nation be acknowledged and the freedom fighter status be bestowed upon him. But till date, his efforts have failed to earn any such commitment. “I came in contact with two intelligence officials, PS Bajwa and Jagmohan Singh Toor in November 1967, who motivated me to serve the country,” said Upendra, adding that after completing his training at the local military headquarters, he sneaked into Pakistan in January 1968 through the Sulemanki border near Fazilka along with a civilian guide. “Later, I stayed in Lahore, Sahiwal and Bahawal Nagar and continued sending inputs despite the risk to my liife,” he added. “After being arrested at Minchanbad bus stand, I was interrogated at the Field Interrogation Unit ( FIU) 596, in Lahore, and later sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment by the military court,” he said. However, Upendra was fortunate as following the Shimla accord, he was repatriated on December 9, 1974 along with the other Indian prisoners. Recalling the horrifying experience of the time spent in Pakistani jail, Upendra said, “You see the treatment our police metes out to its own people apprehended for petty crime. Imagine being caught as a spy in a hostile country,” Nath said, adding that he will fight for the due recognition he deserves till his last breath. Nath is not an isolated case as several others like him including Satish Kumar, Kishori Lal, Vasudev, Joginder Singh, Onkar Nath Budhwar, Baba Ali Nawaz, Mohd Safdar, Mohammed Deen, Master Somnath, Ram Lal Malangi, Bhimsain Verma have also met the same fate. All these men, normally recruited by intelligence agencies as “ad-hoc agents”, were given no papers. Lured by the tall promises, they agreed to undertake perilous tasks without bothering about their own safety. These men were initially given training for a few months and then circumcised in military hospitals before they went on their mission. Nath has even knocked the doors of the Ministry of Home Affairs seeking details under the RTI Act. However, his plea was turned down every time. Last year, Nath was honoured during the Independence Day function by the district administration. However, he feels that the gesture was too little, too late. Nath, who had lost one eye during incarceration in Pakistan, has also demanded that some financial grant should be sanctioned to him so that he can get receive proper eye treatment. |
||
|
Jain’s kin seek stay on arrest warrant Faridkot, March 17 Cancelling their bail bonds, the court had directed the police to produce them in court on March 22. However, the MLA was granted exemption from personal appearance because of the ongoing Vidhan Sabha session.In an application to the Sessions Court, Jain's family members sought a stay on the execution of the arrest warrant. They pleaded that they had not been able to appear in the court as they were away to Chandigarh to attend the legislator's swearing-in ceremony. The Mehna police in Moga district denied conducting raids to arrest the accused as alleged by Jain's family members in the their application.
|
||
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | E-mail | |
The office of the dispatch and receipt branch of the Deputy Commissioner's office here has been housed in a public toilet, that too without renovating the structure.
For the last one and half years, the lone female toilet on the ground floor of the District Administrative Complex
(DAC) has been closed and converted into an office, but foul smell still emanates from it due to the leaking drain pipes laid beneath the marble floor.
At that crucial juncture of history, when the two belligerent neighbours, India and Pakistan, went to war twice within a period of six years, these men were the eyes and ears of the nation who risked their lives to fetch vital pieces of information about the enemy.
However, these “unofficial spies” who were ostensibly sent to Pakistan for espionage, are today fighting an altogether different battle, not against any enemy but against red-tape and the government's unwillingness to acknowledge their services.
Family members of the newly elected SAD legislator from Moga have approached the District and Sessions Judge,
Faridkot, seeking a stay on their arrest warrant. The court of Judicial Magistrate,
Faridkot, had three days ago issued a warrant against MLA Joginder Pal Jain's wife Swaran
Lata, his sons Akshit Jain and Punit Jain and daughter Rohini Jain in a case registered under the Punjab Apartment and Property Regulation Act.
