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Drug-hit Maqboolpura gets a reason to smile
State to spend Rs 500 cr annually to fight cancer
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Fund crunch: Govt grounds foreign trips
SGPC files mercy plea for Bhullar
Will raise wealth tax issue with PM: Bajwa
Reschedule panchayat elections: Cong
Clean chit to NRI raises doubts
Collective efforts needed to
protect women: Harsimrat
Crucial meeting to prepare crop diversification blueprint today
Another death sparks
protests in Faridkot jail
HC: Wife can be given half of
estranged husband’s salary
2 girls abducted in Tarn Taran dist
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Drug-hit Maqboolpura gets a reason to smile
Amritsar, April 20 Deputy Commissioner Rajat Aggarwal visited Maqboolpura, also known as the ‘locality of widows’, today to take stock of the progress made under the action plan. The administration had received a total of 292 applications for widow pension, but many of them never got the facility. For instance, Kanta had been awaiting widow pension since 1995 when her husband died. However, 35 applicants are yet to receive the card as they failed to produce the requisite documents like a death certificate. The Deputy Commissioner has asked the officials concerned to hold a special camp to facilitate the required documents to these women. Besides, 570 out of the 700 children studying in Citizen Forum Vidya Mandir have been issued health cards. Their immunisation programme has also begun and 140 children were administered vaccines. Social activists Brij Bedi and Master Ajit Singh have been running the Citizen Forums Vidya Mandir where the children of drug addicts are being educated free of cost. In another breakthrough, the administration has succeeded in getting the drug addicts to a de-addiction centre set up by it in a private hospital in the locality. The centre received 105 addicts, of which 95 were sent to Swami Vivekananda De-addiction Centre being run by the government. Twentyfive of them have been de-addicted. Aggarwal said a permanent de-addiction centre would soon be constructed in the locality. On health front, the administration has launched a sanitation awareness drive in the locality under which five out of the total 15 lanes have already been covered. In the next phase, it plans to deal with the problem of open sewers. Besides, the administration has directed the Education Department officials to facilitate sports goods in the government schools in the locality so that the children could be kept off drugs. Master Ajit Singh said 329 families had been affected by drug addiction menace in the locality, as per a survey conducted by anganwari workers.
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State to spend Rs 500 cr annually to fight cancer
Mohali, April 20 The camp is being organised by UK-based charitable trust, Roko Cancer, to spread awareness on the disease. Badal said: “As part of our drive against cancer, we have already provided 50 acres of land in Mullanpur to Tata Cancer Research Institute. The institute will establish a hospital there and it will specialise in treating cancer patients. It will be the second biggest of its kind in the country.” Money will be spent every year on organising awareness campaigns, setting up medical centres to battle the disease, and on the treatment of patients, he said. Badal said the patients would now be paid directly under the Chief Minister Cancer Relief Fund. “We have taken this step after receiving complaints that hospitals were committing financial irregularities. Earlier, the payment was made to the hospitals,” he said. The government has also decided to spend Rs 3,443 crore to upgrade the sick primary medical infrastructure in the state.
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Fund crunch: Govt grounds foreign trips
Chandigarh, April 20 The order (The Tribune has a copy), addressed to all department heads, divisional commissioners, deputy commissioners, district and sessions judges and the Registrar of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, has been reportedly forwarded to the Chief Secretary, financial commissioners and principal secretaries, besides the Director (Treasury and Audit). Signed by the Budget Officer-cum-Joint Secretary (Finance) Kashmira Singh, the order reads: “The budget (2013-2014) allotted under the head of ‘foreign travels’ has been frozen.” Also, the departments that have already been allotted the funds have been told not to utilise them and revert the amount back to the Treasury. When contacted, Principal Secretary (Finance) DP Reddy said: “I cannot comment on the matter as I am not aware about it. To my knowledge, no such decision has been taken… I will be able to comment only by Monday.” Not only a freeze on foreign trips, the poor fiscal health has also led to a delay in the disbursal of the salaries of government employees on more than one occasion in the past, the latest being this month. The government, however, has been attributing the delay to shifting the mode of giving salaries through disbursing officers in districts. The fund crunch had also started showing on various developmental projects in the state, officials point out. They claim the slow pace of development works in the state was an indicator of Punjab’s poor financial health. “Certain World Bank-approved projects, including those of sanitation, lie incomplete for want of funds. There is a huge shortage of power. Schools and colleges have been making do with skeletal staff. There is no money for research. The government is struggling to manage the salaries and pensioners have not been paid for months. These are all signs of a big financial crisis,” an official said.
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SGPC files mercy plea for Bhullar
Amritsar, April 20 Comprising among others SGPC junior vice-president Kewal Singh Badal, SGPC secretary Dalmegh Singh and executive member RS Mehta, the delegation filed the petition in the office concerned of the Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi. The SGPC has contended that Bhullar had already spent around 20 years in jail, of which he was on death row for 10 years. It also stated that over 300 witnesses gave their testimony in the court, but “none of them identified Bhullar in connection with the Delhi blasts”. The SGPC said he had been convicted merely “on the basis of his confessional statement, which was unfair”. Moreover, it was a “split” verdict, it added. Supporters take out march Activists of Sikh Students Federation (Mehta), led by its district chief Amarbir Singh Dhot, on Saturday took out a peace march in support of clemency for Bhullar. The march started from the Jahajgarh area and culminated at the Akal Takht after passing through key areas of the city. Later, the activists performed 'ardaas' at the Akal Takht for the early release of Bhullar.
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Will raise wealth tax issue with PM: Bajwa
Chandigarh, April 20 Interacting with a delegation of farmers led by BKU national president Bhupinder Singh Mann, Bajwa assured that the Punjab Congress would strongly oppose imposition of wealth tax and the party would stand by farmers on this issue. Mann told the PPCC president that farmers in other districts were receiving notices for payment of the wealth tax. “If wealth tax is not withdrawn, it will ruin the farmers,” he said. He said wealth tax was much higher than the per acre income from agriculture land. “Punjab will be affected since municipal limits of several cities are extended to villages and collector rates of land have also increased manifold," he claimed. The wealth tax has been imposed at the rate of 1 per cent of collector rates, he said.
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Reschedule panchayat elections: Cong
Chandigarh, April 20 The Congress party said that “the SAD-BJP government had adopted illegitimate means in the formation of wards and that it had broken all norms by issuing the notification clandestinely late Thursday evening”. The Congress alleged the proposed zones of block samitis and zila parishads had not been displayed at the BDPO office. They said the electoral rolls and the roster showing the reserved zones had not been completed. The statement further read that the SAD-BJP government had not rewarded Rs 3 lakh to those panchayats elected unanimously. The Congress has demanded that the government should “scrap the notification and reschedule the elections in a fair manner so as to provide a level playing field to one and all”. Congress not ready for poll, claims ruling SAD The demand of the Congress party to reschedule the elections to the ‘panchayati raj’ institutions was a clear indication that it was not prepared for the elections, Dr Daljit Singh Cheema, SAD Secretary and spokesman said in a statement. Cheema said there was not an iota of truth in the allegations levelled by the Congress. “The SAD has made it clear that the election for the post of sarpanch will not be held on the party symbol. In addition, it will be a direct election where all the electors can vote,” the statement read.
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Clean chit to NRI raises doubts
Moga, April 20 The SIT has submitted an application in the District and Sessions Court here to absolve the NRI of the charges. The court has fixed April 27 as the next date of hearing. The trial of the case was shifted to Moga from Faridkot last year after the formation of a sessions division here. As per the details, Atma Singh, son of Gurmej Singh of Rahon village in Nawanshahr, was arrested from the IGI Airport, New Delhi, in January this year on his arrival from the US. He allegedly got a passport issued in 2006 on forged residence certificate of Baghapurana town in Moga in connivance with local authorities. After getting bail, Atma Singh filed an application before the DIG, Ferozepur range, to reinvestigate his case on the plea that he did not use a fake passport to go abroad claiming that he had another passport. The DIG then ordered a probe. The officer who reinvestigated the case gave a clean chit to Atma Singh, admitting to the latter’s plea that he did not use a fake passport to go abroad but remained silent on why he used forged documents to get another passport. It raises doubts on the credibility of the probe since Atma Singh did commit an offence. Atma reportedly first went to Germany with the help of some travel agents and from there he managed to move to the US. He was granted a US citizenship after a few years. During the ongoing investigations for the past over five years, at least 300 fake passports were detected, which were made by forging documents.
Moga Passport Scam: Case History
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Collective efforts needed to
protect women: Harsimrat
Bathinda, April 20 Referring to the sexual assault and rape of a five-year-old child in the national capital, Harsimrat said collective efforts were needed to safeguard the dignity of women. On Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Khanna in Punjab yesterday, Harsimrat alleged the entire Congress was working on a single point agenda of “grabbing power” while being “insensitive” towards public interests. Earlier, Harsimrat released a grant of Rs 1.76 crore to 57 schools of Bathinda district for the construction of boundary walls and Rs 5 lakh each to 85 schools for art and craft rooms. To promote sports activities in state villages, she released a grant of Rs 1 lakh each to 32 villages under the Punjab Yuva Khel Abhiyan. She also laid the foundation stones of 16 rural water supply projects in the district.
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Crucial meeting to prepare crop diversification blueprint today
Chandigarh, April 20 Another meeting is scheduled for tomorrow and the government functionaries are likely to zero in on various steps that need to be taken to promote crop diversification. Today’s meeting was also attended by senior Union Government officials. The participants discussed how to break the traditional wheat-paddy cycle. On the occasion, Badal praised Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar for “helping the state pursue the diversification programme in the right earnest”. Farmers representing various streams, including horticulture, poultry, dairy, floriculture and piggery, put forth their suggestions for restructuring the state’s agricultural economy. Badal assured the farmers that his government was all for bringing down the area under paddy and for switching over to other crops, including maize, sugarcane and cotton, horticulture and allied sectors such as dairy, piggery, goat rearing, fishery, bee-keeping and poultry. The Chief Minister directed the Cooperative Department to prepare a plan to provide loans from cooperative banks to promote the new crop pattern and allied sectors. He also urged the Union Government officials to work towards enhancing the allocation for diversification. He claimed the provision of Rs 500 crore made in the Union Budget would not serve the purpose. The Chief Minister also agreed to a proposal put forth by citrus growers to embark upon a joint marketing strategy by the farmers, the Punjab Agriculture Marketing Board, the Punjab Agri Export Corporation and the Punjab Agricultural University for marketing kinnow. Among others, Ministers Adesh Partap Singh Kairon and Parminder Singh Dhindsa, Punjab Farmers Commission Chairman Dr GS Kalkat and Chief Secretary Rakesh Singh attended the meeting.
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Another death sparks
protests in Faridkot jail
Faridkot, April 20 Inspector-General (Jails) Jagjit Singh rushed to the jail to pacify the prisoners even as the authorities called extra police force to control the situation. The prisoners on hunger strike accused the jail authorities of not providing them adequate health care. It was only after an assurance from Jagjit Singh of being provided better medical facilities that the inmates agreed to end their strike.
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HC: Wife can be given half of
estranged husband’s salary
Chandigarh, April 20 The significant ruling came on an appeal filed by Vijay Kumar against the state of Punjab and other respondents. He had challenged an order passed by the Punjab DGP, directing the payment of 50 per cent of salary directly to his wife and two school going children. As the case came up for hearing before a Single Judge, his counsel argued that there were no rules authorising the DGP to pass such an order. Brushing aside the contention, the Single Judge refused to interfere with the order observing that the social security concept envisaged by the legislature was "not only for the sustenance of a victim-spouse but also to boost the morale of such a victim with enough strength to fight an unequal legal battle waged by the dominating spouse". The same arguments were then raised before a Division Bench in an appeal. After hearing his counsel and advocate Ramdeep Partap Singh for the wife, the Division Bench dismissed the appeal by asserting: "Once such an order is passed providing immediate sustenance to the destitute wife and two minor children, the Single Judge has rightly refused to interfere with the same. "The remedy under Article 226 of the Constitution of India is discretionary in nature. There is hardly any ground to exercise that discretion in favour of the appellant and quash such a benevolent order which was passed by the DGP in order to do substantial justice in the matter". The Bench added the appellant was only maintaining his father. But, "as against two persons, maintenance sought by the wife was for herself and two minor children, that is for three persons. These two minor children are school going as well and, therefore, the wife has to incur expenditure on the education of these children as well". "Taking into account the totality of circumstances, direction of making 50 per cent payment of the salary to the appellant's wife and two minor school going children is perfectly justified". "This is a matter which hardly needs adjudication to find out the quantum of maintenance which is to be provided to the appellant's wife and two minor school going children".
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2 girls abducted in Tarn Taran dist
Manjit abducted the girl when she had gone to the institute three days ago, the victim’s father alleged. A case has been registered. In another incident, a student of Class XII was abducted from Bhikhiwind area. Nirmal Singh, a resident of Kajikot village has been booked. The girl's mother, a resident of Bhagwanpur Kalan village, had lodged a complaint with the Bhikhwind police that the accused lured her aughter by promising to marry her.
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The Punjab Government will spend Rs 500 crore every year to fight cancer. This was announced by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal at the inauguration of a medical camp here today.
A delegation of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) today filed a clemency petition with President Pranab
Mukherjee, seeking pardon for Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar whose plea to commute his death sentence was recently turned down by the Supreme Court.
Bathinda, April 20
Tarn Taran, April 20