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Shopkeepers near Jallianwala Bagh resist eviction, won’t sign affidavits
Cop says he was forced to stage encounters |
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PPSC Scandal
Amritsar Khalsa College gets ‘autonomous’ status
Despite heavy inflow, no flood threat: BBMB
The Tribune catches up with a few young guns elected as sarpanch and tries to find out about the works they plan to initiate
Badals face Cong flak over
Rs 7-crore bullet-proof cars
Union Home Ministry must probe Bajwa’s ‘terror links’: Sukhbir
Pannu
assault case
Accused in two-day police remand
Repoll in Bathinda villages peaceful
World Punjabi Centre admn block inaugurated
HC gives govt 2 months to reconstruct missing files
26 years on, land owner gets value of yield
3 school officials booked for Nakodar mishap
Patiala man kills two daughters, wife
Seven-year-old girl raped
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Shopkeepers near Jallianwala Bagh resist eviction, won’t sign affidavits
Amritsar, July 5 Market association chief Manmohan Kundra said, “Following a meeting with a senior local body ministry official last evening, the district administration told us to sign affidavits giving our consent to the move if we wanted an extension of a week in the deadline. However, we are in no mood to sign it as the next date of hearing in the court is July 9 and we want to continue with our fight.” Kundra said they were also not happy with the rehabilitation options provided to them by the administration. “Which trader will leave the heart of Amritsar to shift to an area like Jahajgarh? Moreover, they are merely showing us vacant plots as no alternative shops are ready yet. We cannot rely on their assurances as we have seen that the shopkeepers who were displaced in 1984 are still seeking rehabilitation,” he said. He said there were 87 traders who are getting affected, 35 of whom would completely lose their shops due to the project. On the other hand, Deputy Commissioner Rajat Aggarwal said if the traders will not sign affidavits, they will go ahead with the drive to displace them. He said they had already been put on notice for vacating the shops. Asked whether the administration will start demolishing these shops tomorrow, he said they will carry out the drive at an “appropriate time”. In 1998, the administration had conceptualised the Jallianwala Bagh road-widening scheme. The 1.5 km road stretch is to be widened up to 40 feet so as to ease traffic congestion on the way to the Golden Temple. Sometime back, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had also questioned the delay in the project even as compensation to the tune of Rs 8.98 crore had already been awarded to around 105 affected property owners on the stretch. Incidentally, the project will not affect the owners as a majority of traders and residents occupying these properties are tenants. Why the eviction
Shopkeepers, Amritsar admn face to face Which trader will leave the heart of Amritsar to shift to an area like Jahajgarh? Moreover, they are merely showing us vacant plots as no alternative shops are ready yet... those displaced in 1984 are still seeking rehabilitation — Manmohan Kundra, market association chief If the traders do not sign affidavits (seeking extension in eviction deadline), we will go ahead with the drive to displace them…. they have already been put on notice for vacating the shops….we will carry out the drive at an appropriate time — Rajat Aggarwal, Amritsar Deputy Commissioner
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Cop says he was forced to stage encounters
Chandigarh, July 5 Sub-Inspector (SI) Surjit Singh today moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court, claiming he was “compelled by his senior officers to kill youngsters in fake encounters.” He has, among others, named former police chief KPS Gill, in the list of officers involved. He has also given a list of “victims” and made it clear that he is willing to depose against his seniors. The petition for protection narrates a tale of neglect and unfulfilled promises made to policemen who “fought” militancy. “The men he had served with such devotion and faith are not worth his loyalty and devotion, but a bunch of selfish men out to commit any crime for small benefits and promotions,” his counsel asserted. Mincing no words, Surjit Singh said “unscrupulous senior officers of the Punjab Police killed innocent citizens in fake encounters by using their juniors for their own promotions and police medals…. The fight was much prolonged due to the atrocities of a group of sadist officers, who delighted themselves with torture and death.” Implicating his senior, Surjit Singh asserted that he “killed many innocent youngsters in fake encounters under the supervision of Paramjit Singh Gill, the then Senior Superintendent of Police, Amritsar.” Surjit Singh insisted that the encounters of known terrorists/ wanted persons were staged too “so that there was no need for collection of evidence to try them in a court of law”. Confessing his hand in the encounters, Surjit Singh said he showed courage by “participating in major encounters and was much appreciated for his fearless action in combat”. Giving reasons for his confession, his counsel RS Bains said: “The weight of the crime, which the petitioner has committed and which he has witnessed, always made him sad. “Remorse has set in to at least make an honest confession to those families whose children he had been instrumental in killing in the mistaken belief that he is doing his duty at the command of senior officers, who knew very well that they are committing crimes for private ends.They used the petitioner due to his immature age…” Also, while Surjit Singh’s juniors were promoted, he was not even regularised as Sub-Inspector. Bains said the High Court in September 2012 had directed the State of Punjab and the Director-General of Police to decide on a representation by Surjit Singh. “When he went to the Tarn Taran SSP, Ranjit Singh Hundal, he was not only denied a hearing but also beaten up threatened with elimination in a fake encounter.”
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PPSC Scandal Patiala, July 5 They were also fined Rs 5,000 each. Three of the accused were acquitted. An FIR registered by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau on September 5, 2002, had said that at least 12 officers had paid hefty bribes, ranging from Rs 15 lakh to Rs 45 lakh, through middlemen for selection in the PCS cadre. A case was registered after Sidhu was arrested. Two middlemen turned witnesses in the case. Those held guilty under Section 12 of the Prevention of Corruption Act are Pritpal Singh, Rajinder Siungh Sidhu, Jasbir Singh, Inderpreet Singh, Om Parkash Verma, Harbans Lal Bansal, Bhupinderjit Singh, Parminderpal Singh and Balraj Kaur. The officials acquitted are Baljeet Singh, Jarnail Singh and Jaspal Singh. The state Vigilance Bureau had registered five cases against different categories of PCS candidates — those successful in getting into the PCS (Executive), the PCS (Judicial) and PCS (Allied) through nominations and those appointed Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) and Block Development and Panchayat Officer (BDPO) through under-hand means. In March 2002, Sidhu was nabbed by the Vigilance while accepting a bribe from Bhupjit Singh, an Inspector in the Punjab Excise and Taxation Department and a departmental candidate for nomination to the PCS (Executive). Several cases were registered and tainted officials removed thereafter.
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Amritsar Khalsa College gets ‘autonomous’ status
The college would now have the autonomy to design its own courses, launch or discontinue courses and hold its own exams, said council president Satyajit Singh Majithia. The council had earlier faced stiff resistance from the college staff to its move to make the college a private university. Accompanied by the council’s honorary secretary Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina and college principal Dr Daljit Singh, Majithia said the college administration would now be run by a governing body headed by him in his capacity as governing council chief. It would have 12 members, including nominees of the state government, Guru Nanak Dev University and the UGC. An educationist or industrialist would also be one of the nominees. He said the college had been accorded the “autonomous” status under a UGC new scheme. Majithia claimed that the college was the first college affiliated with Guru Nanak Dev University to be given this status after a rigorous evaluation of its achievements in academics and sports. Majithia said the new status would help the college get more UGC funds. What it means
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Despite heavy inflow, no flood threat: BBMB
Ropar, July 5 He told the Chief Minister that the situation was under control and there were no threat of floods in the area. Agrawal briefed the Chief Minister on the water released from these reservoirs and about preparations for the Bhakra Dam’s golden jubilee celebrations at Nangal on October 22. Sources said the water level in the two reservoirs this June is much higher than it was in June last year owing to heavy rains in the catchment areas. The outflow has been much less than in the past because of a sharp fall in demand by the agriculture sector. The water level at the Bhakra today was recorded at 1,620.28 ft against 1,539 ft in the corresponding period last year. In 2011, when the monsoon was normal, the water level at the Gobind Sagar reservoir during the same period was recorded at 1,600.60 ft. On September 18 that year the dam was filled to capacity (1,680 ft), two days before the end of the filling season. The inflow at the Bhakra was 54,008 cuesecs today against the outflow of 3,5536 cusecs.The figures were 41,494 cusecs and 29,459 cusecs, respectively, during the same period last year. At the Pong Dam, the water level was recorded at 1,327.98 ft today against 1,289.30 ft last year. The inflow was recorded at 17,311 cusecs against 16,589 cusecs last year and the outflow at 16,589 cusecs against 15,904 cusecs last year.
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The Tribune catches up with a few young guns elected as sarpanch and tries to find out about the works they plan to initiate
Sangrur, July 5 Regarding his entry into the village politics, he says, “I always thought about the welfare of the downtrodden sections. I want to do something for them.” His father has remained a panch twice. The sarpanch-elect says, “Our village has no source of income as it has a small common land holding. I will approach the state government or Rajya Sabha MP Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa for funds.” A graduate, he has authored a poetry book ‘Baki hai zindgi da safar’ in Punjabi. He has also written songs for tele-films (‘Nanak Naam Chardi Kala’ and ‘Sarbat Da Bhala’) of a known producer Gurchet Chittarkar. Gaganjit also plans to release a Punjabi music album of his songs in the next four months. She plans to tap youth power
Nawanshahr, July 5 A first-time sarpanch of Durgapur village in the district, she says the youths should be encouraged to join politics. Only then, she says, can a qualitative, development-oriented political system be set in place. During campaigning, her agenda was quite appreciated by the villagers. The praise later converted into votes too. Of the 536 voters in the village, 307 preferred her. She beat her nearest rival by a margin of 100 votes. Belonging to the Scheduled Caste community, she completed her Class XII from a school in Naya Nangal. After completing her general nursing from Jalandhar, she left to the UK for BSc (nursing) from the University of West London. Currently, she is pursuing her MSc. “We need to rise above the petty politics based on religion, region and caste. Only then can we follow the true path of development,” she says. Asked what her priority as sarpanch will be, Arpana says, “I will focus on comprehensive development. I will chalk out a strategy while taking the village elderly into confidence… I will also try to utilise the youth power for social causes.” Arpana’s father-in-law Gurnar Singh has also been elected as a panch. “His being there in the panchayat will prove to be a blessing for me. His guidance will help me serve the village better,” she avers. Welfare of border farmers his mission
Fazilka, July 5 A primary school dropout, Harmesh, with the backing of the dominant Rai Sikhs, defeated the sitting sarpanch Harbans Singh by a narrow margin of 14 votes. Harmesh says he would take up the issue of increasing the tilling timing for villagers for cultivation in their fields across the barbed wire fencing. He also wants a higher compensation for them. “The relief of Rs 3,000 per acre for border farmers is too less. The amount must be enhanced to Rs 6,000.” He says he would put in efforts for the all-round development of the village and renovation of the gurdwara. In Khanpur, another border village, Hardip Dhaka (32), a new entrant, defeated BJP’s Fazilka Mandal (rural) president Ashok Dhaka and Congress-backed sitting sarpanch Lal Singh, who occupied the post for 14 years.
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Badals face Cong flak over
Rs 7-crore bullet-proof cars
Chandigarh, July 5 In a statement issued here, party MLAs Randeep Singh, Navtej Singh Cheema, Gurkirat Singh Kotli, Ajit Inder Singh Mofar, Ramanjit Singh Sikki and Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria said earlier the Chief Minister had given nod for the purchase of aircrafts worth Rs 75 crore for use by his son Sukhbir Badal. They said the Badals were using luxury vehicles at the cost of the public exchequer. They said Punjab needed to take adopt austerity measures to cope with the economic crisis looming large over the state. The Congress MLAs said the SAD-BJP government was not able to pay salaries to its employees and had been receiving overdrafts to meet the day-to-day expenses. The government has taken Rs 700 crore loan to pay the salaries of staff. They said the Punjab government failed to pay eight per cent dearness allowance (DA) installment to its employees due for the past six months. The next DA hike will be due in the month of July. The legislators said the Badal family already had a fleet of over 30 government vehicles at their disposal that included luxury cars and bullet-proof SUVs. When the Badals had enough resources to purchase luxury vehicles for their personal use, why they were burdening the government exchequer, the legislators questioned.
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Sukhbir nod to conceptual plan of New Chandigarh
Chandigarh, July 5 Sukhbir said New Chandigarh, spread over an area of 15272.5 acre in the foothills of the Shivaliks, would be an example for future development in the state. The Deputy CM said reputed international universities and institutes in the fields of hospital administration, management, computer science and engineering, biotechnology, multimedia, pharmaceuticals, tourism and hospitality, industrial design, media and mass communication were evincing great interest to set up their campuses in the proposed education city. The Deputy CM said after seeking their expressions of interest (EOIs), a short-listing process would begin and land would be allotted to them after completion of road infrastructure. Approving Rs 1,278 crore for developing infrastructure in the proposed town, Badal said Rs 660 crore had been sanctioned for road infrastructure. Rs 12 crore have been allotted for installation of 10 million gallon daily (MGD) capacity water treatment plants, Rs 262 crore for water supply, sewerage and storm water and drainage water, Rs 40 crore for 62 MLD sewerage treatment plant and Rs 300 crore for 220KV and 66KV substation, electrification, street-lightning and laying of 66KV underground cable.
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Union Home Ministry
must probe Bajwa’s ‘terror links’: Sukhbir
Chandigarh, July 5 There have been media reports quoting “close associates” of former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh claiming that the latter had written to party president Sonia Gandhi in March this year on Bajwa’s “close links” with terrorists during Punjab’s militancy period. This, the reports said, was done to thwart Bajwa’s appointment as PCC chief. Talking to The Tribune on his first day at office after a two-week foreign tour, the Deputy CM said that Amarinder Singh had denied making the allegations “under pressure from the high command.” Sukhbir said the Home Ministry should investigate the matter as the allegations were serious. The allegations deserved appropriate attention as these were made by a former Chief Minister, he said. “Chief Ministers by virtue of holding the home portfolio are privy to classified information,” he maintained. The SAD president took on the Punjab Congress chief, saying Bajwa had been completely rejected in his area. He said Bajwa, who had lost the block samiti and zila parishad elections earlier, now had to face defeat in the panchayat elections with the candidate supported by his party losing in his home ward in Qadian.
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Pannu
assault case
Chandigarh, July 5 Pannu had claimed that the attack on him was unprovoked and pre-planned. The Punjab Congress has been alleging all along that persons close to the Education Minister, involved in a controversy with the Director General of School Education (Pannu), were responsible for the attack on the officer. Sources said the SIT led by Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Sanjeev Kalra had not found any evidence to substantiate the allegations. The SIT was moving towards the theory that the attack was the result of frayed tempers and had occurred on the spur of the moment. It was not pre-meditated. The sources said the SIT had been given to understand that Pannu had uttered something which was objected to by the pilgrims already miffed over the delay in the evacuation operations. The souces said the SIT was studying the video footage of the incident available on a social network site. In the footage, the pilgrims, two of them baptised Sikhs, could be heard telling the officer to apologise while facing towards Hemkund Sahib. The IAS would be asked about the same, the sources said. Pannu, when questioned, said he had submitted a complaint to the SIT and it was up to it to inquire into the attack, which was “pre-meditated.” He said while walking towards a group of pilgrims, he had failed to realise that he had walked into a “trap”. He said the attack on him was launched as soon as someone started taking a video footage. The officer said he had not hurt anybody’s religious sentiments. “I drove 15 km and trekked 6 km to reach Gobind Ghat from Joshimath only to help the stranded pilgrims,” he said. The officer said it was standard procedure to rescue women and children first. But some persons insisted that they be given help on priority. “I tried to tackle them but was trapped,” he said. Chandigarh: The general secretary of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, Fatehjung Bajwa, and former chairman of the Planning Board RR Bhardwaj has asked Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to dismiss Education Minister Sikander Singh Maluka since the central team that had investigated the misuse of funds given under the Sarv Sikhisha Abhiyan had categorically held that the procedure followed by the department at the instance of Maluka was “wrong. —TNS
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Accused in two-day police remand
Mohali, June 5 Kanakwal, a resident of Bathinda and Sonu from village Jatiwal, Bhadson, Patiala, were arrested by the cyber cell of the Punjab police, Mohali, on Thursday night. Both the accused were produced in a Mohali court today. They were sent to a two-day police remand. “Sonu and Kanakwal claimed that they had handed over the phone with the video clip to Baba Panesar,” said an investigating officer. Panesar has already been arrested.
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Repoll in Bathinda villages peaceful
Raike Kalan (Bathinda), July 5 At Bahadurgarh Jandiya village, Sandip Kaur was elected sarpanch by three votes. The village recorded 94.4 per cent voting. Ropar: Election in Ward No. 3 of Gando Kalan village in Ropar will be held on Saturday. The election was countermanded on July 3 because of an error in the ballot papers. The polling will be held between 8 am and 4 pm and the results declared thereafter.
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World Punjabi Centre admn block inaugurated
Patiala, July 5 Among other rooms, the building comprises a conference hall, a library-cum-scholars room and a reading hall. Dr Deepak Manmohan Singh, Director of the WPC, said the building has a covered area of 2,500 sq feet and has been constructed at a cost of Rs 40 lakh. The Centre will organise the first South Asian Punjabi Conference on “Future of Punjabi Language, Literature and Culture in South Asia: Challenges and Prospects” on July 30 and 31 on the university campus. The Vice Chancellor said experts and scholars, who have made any contribution for the promotion of Punjabi in its entirety, would be invited as special invitees.
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HC gives govt 2 months to reconstruct missing files
Chandigarh, July 5 A Division Bench also made it clear that investigating officer Ashish Kapoor would complete investigation within next three months and final status report would be submitted to the High Court on January 7. As the petition filed in public interest by advocate HC Arora came up for resumed hearing this morning, the UT Police filed additional status report before the Division Bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Augustine George Masih. A Deputy Superintendent of Police stated that during the tenure of Punjab Under Secretary, Personnel, Yog Raj Sharma, 35 files were misplaced. Out of the total, 14 filed related to IAS Branch and 21 to PCS Branch. Another six files related to disciplinary action. The IO said he was told 25 files have been reconstructed. Of these, 14 files have been disposed of by passing appropriate orders. Remaining files were yet to be reconstructed. Referring to certain individual files, the officer stated the movement registers did not have signatures of officials receiving those files. “Thus, it is difficult to pinpoint the responsibility of a person. On the other hand, nobody had taken any action during the posting of Yog Raj Sharma in context of pending files, not even a single notice was served on him,” the IO added in his additional status report. He further stated: “The personal staff of Yog Raj Sharma at the time of his posting as Under Secretary, Department of Personnel, is yet to join investigation and statements of some other officials are yet to be recorded.” As such, the FIR was still under investigation. A month for panel to examine skater’s plea The Punjab and Haryana High Court has set less than a month’s deadline for the Legal Education Committee to examine sympathetically an international-level roller skater’s plea for studying a law course in Chandigarh. The skater, Vipin Kumar, was initially seeking admission under the sports quota, and also under the backward class category. After he was admitted to Panjab University, the only controversy which remained was his shifting to Chandigarh centre from Ludhiana centre for “furtherance of the interest in sports”. At present, Vipin Kumar is in the fifth semester. As the case came up for hearing before the Division Bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Augustine George Masih, the counsel for Panjab University contended the Vice Chancellor was not competent to act in the matter. Elaborating, he said, seats would have to be increased in the Chandigarh centre, since there was no corresponding migration case. “For the purpose, one seat would have to be increased at the Chandigarh centre, while reducing a seat at the Ludhiana centre for that year alone,” he said. The matter, he insisted, was under the purview of the Bar Council of India.
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26 years on, land owner gets value of yield
Chandigarh, July 5 Taking up an appeal filed by the State of Punjab, Justice K Kannan awarded the farmer the “value of yield” for fruit bearing trees on the acquired land, though the farmer had not even moved the court for it. In his order, Justice Kannan asserted: “The appeal is only by the State and there is no appeal by the landowner himself. I have still passed an award in favour of the landowner, since the exact amount payable to him had not been determined by the court below”. Justice Kannan said he had followed such a course, provided for in the statute, “to prevent further loss of time for recovering the amount of what is justifiably to be given to the landowner who had lost the property in the year 1987”. The landowner, Romesh Singh, had initially filed a claim for the trees on property acquired in Phangota village. He had asserted that compensation for the acquired land was awarded, but he was not paid for the fruit yielding trees. Taking up his objection, a separate award was passed, But, he complained that the “assessment for the value of the trees had not been properly made on the basis of the yield”. The reference court found that the land was described as “bagicha” or garden in 1982 and it existed up to 1987, when the property was acquired. The reference court observed that it was not possible to make a clear assessment regarding the number of trees that existed from October 1982 to 1987, but said that the trees must have been at least four years old at that time. As such, compensation should be provided after considering the age as four years. Justice Kannan asserted: “The reference court cannot forsake its responsibility and say that it was unable to decide on the actual number of trees that were in existence…. In the peculiar situation that the award has been passed more than two decades earlier, I find it would be unfair to the parties to refer the matter (back)… Since the number of trees have been recorded on the basis of responsible officers and attested in a report, I shall take the assessment as regards the number of trees as correct and take the value of yield for the fruit bearing trees to be half of what the landowner estimates viz Rs 30,000 against Rs 60,000 claimed by him”. Justice prevails
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3 school officials booked for Nakodar mishap
Jalandhar, July 5 An FIR under the Motor Vehicle Act and the IPC was registered against Amandeep Kaur, principal; Ravinder Singh Mehta, Manager; and Jaivinder Singh, Chief Manager. Subhash Bath, Station House Officer (SHO), Nakodar police station, said, “We lodged the FIR on the recommendations of the report by Phillaur Sub Divisional Magistrate Jasbir Singh. The report and the police investigation have held the school authorities responsible for the tragedy.” The report found that the owners had blatantly violated the orders of the High Court and the Supreme Court. The van was not yellow in colour and carried 24 children in a 12-seater vehicle. Even the complaints of the students’ parents went unheeded. They had complained that the driver was rash.
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Patiala man kills two daughters, wife
Patiala, July 5 The police has registered a case against the deceased woman’s husband Gurmeet Singh for allegedly strangulating the three to death. The three victims have been identified as Raminder Kaur (31), her two daughters Bhavjeet Kaur (15) and Amanpreet Kaur (15). “Prima facie, it appears that the three were murdered in a fit of rage. The family was struggling financially,” the police said. The accused Gurmeet Singh was nabbed when he was reportedly on his way to Ganda Kherhi, a Bhakra canal, to commit suicide. Kulwant Singh, Station House Officer (SHO), Tripuri, confirmed that the accused had tried to poison the victims before strangulating them. The SHO said, “After killing the three, he left his house and informed a relative about the crime and his plans to commit suicide.” Gurmeet worked as a private contractor for a pest control company.
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Fatehgarh Sahib, July 5 The Sirhind police has registered a case against Kiratpal Singh who is at large. — OC
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Chandigarh, July 5
Amritsar, July 5
