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Modi must show statesmanship, says DSGMC
High Court tells PUDA not to use groundwater for construction
AI resumes Amritsar to Birmingham flight
Badal hijacked central varsity project: Bajwa
PPCC chief Partap Singh Bajwa at the Congress’ mass contact programme in Sujanpur on Thursday. A Tribune photograph
Fatehgarh
Sahib Bus Accident
Case against driver; DC warns NH project head
Conductor’s kin hoping against hope
Frame road safety policy, state told
Tewari to approach Transport Minister
Floodwater enters power plant, supply may be hit
Central funding for 5 ITIs
Suspended hospital doctor back on duty
Hit-and-run case
Proposed Anandpur Sahib colony to endanger wildlife
BBMB generates record power
Fill principal’s post in two months: HC
High Court denies bail to sarpanch accused of murder
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CM: Will take up problems of Gujarat Sikhs with Modi
Amritsar, August 1 Talking to mediapersons after administering oath to newly elected sarpanches today, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said: "We will take up the matter with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. At present, we don't know the exact reason behind the Punjabi farmers' woes. We will soon send someone to Gujarat to get to the bottom of the matter. It is our duty to protect the interests of Sikh families." Replying to another query, he blamed the Centre for rising inflow of drugs into the state. He said despite apprising the Centre of the problem, the latter had failed to act on it. He said the Union Government had not even banned the open sale of poppy husk in Rajasthan, which was a bane of Punjab. Addressing a gathering on the occasion, Badal announced that the state government would soon double the number of beneficiaries being covered under the atta-dal scheme from the present 15 lakh to 30 lakh. He said they were also contemplating to facilitate atta-dal to the poor at much cheaper rates. He claimed all the new thermal plants would start functioning in six months. "Within a year, Punjab will be a power surplus state. We will also sell power to other states." Badal also hinted that the sarpanches would be given more powers in future, but did not elaborate much on the issue. Congratulating the newly elected sarpanches and panches, he said the rural population had entrusted them a huge responsibility of ushering in an era of development in the state. He said they should join hands with the government in this Herculean task by effectively monitoring the ongoing development works in their respective areas. Cabinet ministers Bikram Singh Majithia, Gulzar Singh Ranike, Surjit Singh Rakhra and Anil Joshi, besides MP Rattan Singh Ajnala were also present. The CM said farming had become economically unviable in the state due to various reasons like rising prices of fuel and agricultural inputs. He exhorted the farmers to shift from water-guzzling crops like paddy and diversify to crops like basmati, maize, soyabean and even dairy farming. He said with the Union Government drawing its foot from purchasing paddy, it was the need of the hour that Punjab farmers should adopt crop diversification.
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Modi must show statesmanship, says DSGMC
New Delhi, August 1 Manjinder Singh Sirsa, DSGMC general secretary, asked Modi to show statesmanship, “especially when the NDA is looking to you to lead the country after the parliamentary elections.” The Gujarat High Court had in July 2012 set aside the decision of the district collector ‘freezing’ the land of these farmers on the plea that they were “outsiders.” Ajaib Singh, member of the National Minorities Commission, said he had submitted a report to the commission in June. “In describing the sorry plight of the Sikh farmers to the media in Gujarat, I had said that Modi, who was in the habit of suppressing and terrorising the minorities in Gujarat, was in this case targeting and victimising Sikh farmers of Kutch.” The affected farmers have been camping in Gurdwara Bangla Sahib here.
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High Court tells PUDA not to use groundwater for construction
Chandigarh, August 1 The High Court also asked the State to ensure that only surface or treated water from sewage treatment plants was used for construction work. For the purpose, the High Court gave the State three months. The directions by the Division Bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Augustine George Masih came during the resumed hearing of a PIL filed by advocate HC Arora. During the hearing, Vinod Kumar Bhalla, Special Secretary, Punjab Local Government, stated in an affidavit that the government had decided that within municipal areas, the underground water from the bore/tube wells would be used only for drinking and domestic purposes. It was added that underground water would not be used for construction purposes, and alternative sources such as surface water or treated water from nearby sewage treatment plant would be used for the same. The State Government had accordingly issued instructions that in letters of allotment itself, a condition would be incorporated to the effect that underground water would not be used for construction purposes, and alternative sources would be used for the same.
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AI resumes Amritsar to Birmingham flight
In recent past, the airport had witnessed withdrawal of several international flights. The flight to Birmingham was withdrawn three years ago. True to the expectations, the inaugural flight evoked good response, with 256-seater Boeing 787 Dreamliner taking off with 215 passengers at 10:30 am. The flight has 238 economy and 18 business class seats. Of the passengers, 129 were Birmingham-bound. The flight will operate four days a week: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Air India is offering a return ticket for Rs 48,000. The flight will depart from the Amritsar airport at 10:30 am and reach Delhi at 11:45 am. It will take off for Birmingham at 1:30 pm and land there at 6 am. The return journey will start the same day at 9:30 pm. The flight will arrive at Delhi at 10:05 am. At 12:05 pm, it will fly for Amritsar and reach here at 1:10 pm. Though the flight’s launch has been widely hailed, frequent fliers feel it would have been better had the flight originated from New Delhi and landed in Amritsar before finally taking off for Birmingham, thus saving their time. With the launch of the flight, Amritsar’s air link with Birmingham stands restored after a gap of almost three years. Earlier, Air India had discontinued its Amritsar-Birmingham-Toronto flight on October 31, 2010. Airport director Suneel Dutt said the start of the flight would help the loss-making airport regain economical strength.
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Badal hijacked central varsity project: Bajwa
Sujanpur, August 1 Speaking at his party’s mass contact programme here today, Bajwa said these towns had earned the sobriquet of being the “epicentres of illegal excavation”. Bajwa hinted that politicians of the ruling SAD-BJP combine were allegedly backing the mining mafia. He said such mining was being done at various places in and around Sujanpur, including at Madhopur, Kerian and Damthal. He also said the Union Government had approved a central university for Pathankot but Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, in a “subtle political move, managed to hijack the project to the Malwa region”. “Likewise, sanctions accorded to several industrial projects by the Union Government during my tenure as MP were not followed up properly by the state government, following which they are lying in a limbo,” he said. Bajwa was presiding over the programme, which was turned into a mini rally by his supporters. The organiser of the event, Vinay Mahajan, a known Bajwa loyalist who unsuccessfully contested the last assembly election on the party ticket, adopted a novel idea by making women Congress workers sit in an adjacent hall where three LCDs — broadcasting the main event — were installed. But commotion prevailed when Bajwa made an appearance on the dais and the party workers too tried to get on to the stage. Mahajan, however, deftly handled the situation. “The problem started when too many people barged on to the stage. But, we did not let things go out of hand,” he averred. Earlier, scores of motorcycle riders, who were part of the Youth Congress, welcomed Bajwa when he entered Sujanpur.
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Fatehgarh Sahib Bus Accident
Fatehgarh Sahib, August 1 Talking to The Tribune, Ashu alleged that the police had not provided sufficient fuel for their two-wheelers. “We worked round the clock to locate the bodies. The police, instead of recognising our services, misbehaved with us,” he alleged. Ashu said they had met the Station House Officer of the Sirhind police station this morning and demanded fuel for their vehicles. They were provided only 7 litres of fuel against the required 15 litres. He said when he requested food for his team, the SHO refused to oblige. “In desperation, I threatened to halt the search operations. The SHO told me that he did not need our services,” Ashu said. Claiming that the government had never paid a penny for the services rendered by his team, he said he had been taking loans from banks to pay his colleagues. Ashu said they risked their lives while searching for bodies in gushing waters. Yet the authorities concerned had not bothered to provide monetary benefits to them. "I have been awarded 107 appreciation certificates by the state government. But will these help me make both ends meet,” he asked. Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Hardevinder Pal Singh Sandhu, who is supervising the search operations, said that Ashu and his team members had had a dispute with another divers’ team. He claimed the police had been providing assistance and the “necessary” diet to the divers. He claimed that the Deputy Commissioner had issued instructions to the department concerned to provide monetary assistance to the divers.
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Case against driver; DC warns NH project head
Fatehgarh Sahib, August 1 “You had already been informed (vide letter no 8851 dated 18.12.12) regarding the poor condition of railings on both sides of the overbridge at the Bhakra canal near the floating restaurant and were told to get it repaired. But nothing has been done so far. Make immediate arrangements to repair the berms and the railing, failing which you will be held responsible for any such accident in future.” The police has registered a case against bus driver Surinder Singh for negligence, but the officials of the company responsible for the broken railing have been spared. The DC said that teams of the NDRF were searching for the bodies. Officials of neighbouring districts had been requested to help in tracing the bodies. He said so far four bodies had been found. Three bodies were yet to be identified. Anxious relatives of bus passengers were seen at the DC’s office and the Civil Hospital hoping to get word on their near and dear ones.
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Driver’s native village in shock
Tarn Taran, August 1 Son of a small farmer, 32-year-old Surinder was living in a rented accommodation with his wife Karamjeet Kaur and three-year-old son Gurnoor Singh in the Chheharta area of Amritsar. A distraught Karamjeet said they had admitted their son to a nursery school recently. His father Partap Singh, who owns two acres of land, said: “My son was a huge support for the family. He used to earn Rs 7,000 per month as salary. Initially, a truck driver, he was employed by Punjab Roadways on contract five years ago.” Surinder's elder brother Harjinder Singh is a farmer. But the family owns land across the border fence, which makes farming economically unviable. Balbir Singh, a village resident, described Surinder as an honest and hardworking man who would encourage the village youth to take up sports. “He was an athlete and a volleyball player,” he added.
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Conductor’s kin hoping against hope
Batala, August 1 Raman Kumar, his face stained with tears, said his 22-year-old son had got a job at the Amritsar depot of Punjab Roadways only eight months ago. “We expected him home on Wednesday. At 11.41 am, we got a call from the Amritsar depot, informing us that that the bus accident,” said Raman Kumar’s mother. “I am not giving up hope yet,” she added as she left the room to pray for her son’s return.
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Frame road safety policy, state told
Chandigarh, August 1 The High Court also directed them to re-organise road safety councils within four months. Each council shall constitute of at least 10 experts in the field of road safety. The High Court has made it clear that the council should not comprise babus with no relevant experience. The directions came after the High Court took suo motu notice of a letter by Vice-Chairman of Road Safety Council, Kamaljeet Soi, following an accident in which 13 schoolchildren were killed near Nakodar in Jalandhar. Soi had written: “Many parents are unaware. The school managements, transporters, transport departments, district transport officers (DTOs), road transport authorities and motor vehicle inspectors (MVIs) are culprits for not implementing road safety guidelines set by the Supreme Court and the Punjab and Haryana High Court. In any accident involving a school bus with children fatalities, the DTOs/MVIs should be given exemplary punishment. Surely they have not done their job.”
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Tewari to approach Transport Minister
Ludhiana, August 1 He pointed out that the company has been charging toll tax from vehicles all these years and the charges had been more than doubled since the company undertook the project. “We cannot let our people die just because the construction company wants to make more money,” he said. Tewari questioned the argument that the work had been delayed on account of the increased rates for sand and gravel. “The toll charges have more than doubled since the toll collection was started on the highway,” the Congress MP maintained.
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RMOs’ strike hits health services
Jalandhar, August 1 The RMOs, working under the Rural Development Department, are protesting against the state government's denial to accommodate them in the postgraduate (PG) quota in the state medical colleges. Activists of the Rural Medical Services Association stated that unless the government formulated a policy wherein RMOs were included in the 60 per cent PG quota for in-service doctors, they would not join duty. At present, 60 per cent seats in PG medical courses are reserved for PCMS doctors. Association president Aslam Parvez claimed: "It is unfortunate that the government had recently filed an affidavit in the Punjab and Haryana High Court mentioning that the RMOs are appointed only for primary health services and that there is no need to give them in-service opportunity of doing MD/MS in the medical colleges of Punjab." Dr Aslam claimed since 1982, the government quota for higher medical education had been given to all those who had been working in rural areas for their promotion so that more doctors could be deployed in far-flung areas. "It is unfortunate that now the very concept of the PG quota has been changed by the Department of Health and Family Welfare by denying the same to the RMOs," he added. Senior vice-president JP Narula said the government could not deny them their right to higher education.
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Floodwater enters power plant, supply may be hit
Jalandhar, August 1 The move will hit the state's power generation by about 450 MW, which is bound to affect power supply in the state. There are four hydro turbines in the power plant and PSPCL officials said the duration of how long the plant would remain shut could be ascertained only after a proper assessment of the ground situation. They said they would visit the plant tomorrow. KD Chaudhri, PSPCL CMD, said heavy rain in the early hours today led to flooding of the Thein Nullah. "Water carrying heavy silt entered the power house at around 3.40 am. All machines were stopped and supply switched off to prevent damage and short circuit," he said. Chaudhri said preliminary assessment revealed that no major damage had been done. "However, an inspection of the plant will be done before it is made operational. Cleaning of generator internals and the power house will also be carried out,” he said. It is learnt that Chaudhri along with PSPCL Director (Generation) GS Chhabra would visit the plant tomorrow.
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Chandigarh, August 1 “The ITIs at Amritsar, Jalandhar, Kheowali in Muktsar, Samrala and Qadian have been selected. The Centre has upgraded 26 ITIs in the state under vocational training improvement project with the assistance of the World Bank". — PTI
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Suspended hospital doctor back on duty
Patiala, August 1 Dr Locham was suspended when six infants were charred to death in their incubators while four others were injured in the phototherapy unit at Government Rajindra Hospital in January 2009. A case under Section 304 of IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) was registered against Dr KK Locham, nurse
Reeta and Class IV employee Satya. The phototherapy unit had caught fire due to an electric short circuit. Dr Locham was accused of keeping infants in
incubators that were of poor quality. College principal Dr KD Singh confirmed that
Dr Locham had been reinstated. Chunni Lal Bhagat, state Medical Education and Research Minister, said since the matter was sub judice, they had only reinstated him temporarily. He said the government would respect the final decision of the court. On being asked why he had been reinstated as the Head of the Department, Bhagat said, “The government couldn’t have appointed Dr Locham as a messenger boy since he was the Head of the Department at the time of his suspension.”
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Hit-and-run case
Sangrur, August 1 The six-hour-long blockade inconvenienced several commuters. On July 5, Ramesh Kumar (60) and his wife Kamla Devi (56), while travelling from Sangrur to Benra on a scooter, were hit by two truck-trailers. The drivers of the vehicle had fled from the spot. Ramesh died on the spot while Kamla succumbed to her injuries at DMC Hospital, Ludhiana, on Wednesday night. Sanjiv Kumar, son of the deceased couple, held Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) Sukhchain Singh and Head Constable (HC) Sukhdev Singh responsible for not taking action against the accused. He said the police failed to nab the accused even though almost four weeks had passed since the incident. Sanjiv demanded that the accused ASI and the HC be suspended and the two drivers be arrested at the earliest. The protesters also demanded that the family of the victims be compensated adequately as they had spent several lakh rupees on Kamla Devi’s treatment at DMC Hospital, Ludhiana. Pritam Singh Johal, Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC), and Sharanjit Singh, Superintendent of Police, Dhuri were present on site. At about 2.45 pm, the protesters agreed to lift the blockade and remove the body from the road when the ADC and the SP announced the suspension of the ASI and the HC.
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Proposed Anandpur Sahib colony to endanger wildlife
Anandpur Sahib, August 1 Once developed, the colony will put wild animals, including leopard, wild boar, bear and sambhar in direct conflict with man. Interestingly, the board highlighting the name of the builder was removed recently. Jasbir Singh, Sales Manager of the construction firm, said all the plots on the said land had been sold.
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BBMB generates record power
Ropar, August 1 Machine availability also remained 98 per cent during the current spell, said BBMB spokesman.
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Fill principal’s post in two months: HC
Chandigarh, August 1 The directions are significant as 459 posts of principal, to be filled in from the quota of Head Masters alone, are still lying vacant. The directions came even as the state government assured the High Court that the existing vacancies would be filled by January-end next year. As a petition filed by Iqbal Singh for filling up the vacant posts came up for hearing, the Division Bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Augustine George Masih observed several lecturers had also approached the court for intervening in the matter due to 55 per cent quota for their appointment as principal. The Bench also took note of an affidavit filed by the state claiming that 105 school lecturers had been appointed as principal. Appearing before the Bench, Punjab Additional Advocate-General asserted a “large recruitment drive” was carried out in 2006; and minimum eligibility of seven years for appointment as principle would be attained by most candidates by year-end. As such, recruitment from the quota could take place after that date. “The Additional Advocate-General assures that necessary action will thus be taken on or before January 31, 2014, to consider all the eligible people and make appointments out of the eligible persons to fill in the vacancies. “In so far as the quota of lecturers is concerned, it is stated that all posts as available in quota have been filled. He, however, submits that there is a dispute pending… The said writ petition has still not been decided”. Disposing of the petition, the Bench asserted: “The posts as and when available and there are eligible people to make the appointments, should be filled in within a maximum period of two months so that the situation like the present does not come to pass. This would naturally entail that there should be eligible persons available to fill in the vacant posts”.
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High Court denies bail to sarpanch accused of murder
Chandigarh, August 1 The investigation in the case was handed over by the High Court to the Central Bureau of Investigation in October last year after the victim’s son alleged irregularities in the police probe. Claiming that his father was “brutally murdered by Amarjit Singh alias Jeeti, bother of MLA Balbir Singh Sidhu”, Harjinder Singh through his counsel Charanjit Singh Bakhshi had given at least six instances of alleged irregularities. Harjinder Singh placed before the court information received under the Right to Information Act, wherein co-prisoner Jagtar Singh had deposed that sarpanch of Bariyali village Kulwant Singh was allowed to talk on the telephone in the jail and liquor was also supplied to him everyday. — TNS
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Sujanpur, August 1
Fatehgarh Sahib, August 1
Amritsar, August 1
Dr Viresh Kumar, whose body was taken out from the Bhakra canal yesterday, was to get married in November. A photo of his fiancé was recovered from his wallet. The victim's father, Rajpal
Sarswat, who came from Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh to claim the body lying at the Civil Hospital here, said Viresh was a lecturer at the
NIIT, Jalandhar.
The road project was scheduled to be completed in 2011. It is 2013 now. Yet the work remains incomplete... We can’t let people die just because the construction company wants to make more
money