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Amritsar’s development govt’s priority, says CM
US traffic police calls Sikh driver ‘terrorist’
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MLA raises banner of revolt against Bajwa
Sukhbir in Bangalore to attract investment
PPP: To save state from ruin, stop borrowing
Despite ban, commercial use of tractor-trailers rampant in Patiala
His prized possession, a 19th century parasol
Fresh signage to help people form new perspective
Month gone, no water supply in Muktsar villages
Gurdaspur SMO suspended for ‘misbehaving’ with woman
20,900 attend cancer camp on last day
Punjab forgets to allot funds to dist jails for daily chores
Govt not sincere about merger with govt schools: Aided school teachers
Woman dies of dengue
BBMB staff protest decrease in pay scale
Link roads await repair for over 5 yrs in Punjab
Monsoon withdraws from Punjab
Districts along foothills see alarming rise in herbivores
Permanent PCRs to be stationed
in Bathinda
Ex-serviceman held in Amritsar for espionage
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Amritsar’s development govt’s priority, says CM
Amritsar, September 29 The cricketer-turned-politician had called off his proposed fast-unto-death after receiving a written assurance from Badal on his pending developmental projects. Sidhu had got Badal's letter on Friday evening and chose to call off his scheduled fast on Saturday morning. The Chief Minister, who will be holding a Sangat Darshan programme in Gurdaspur tomorrow, said, “There has never been any delay on the part of the state government in executing developmental projects. The only delay has been due to judicial intervention or late clearances from the
Centre.”
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US traffic police calls Sikh driver ‘terrorist’
New York, September 29 Jagjeet Singh, 49, a trucker from California, was driving through the Mississippi state when he was pulled over for driving with a flat tyre in Pike County on January 16, according to a complaint filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and United Sikhs. Police officers called Jagjeet a “terrorist” and had him arrested for declining to remove his kirpan, a symbol of Sikh faith. When he returned to Mississippi for his court date in Pike County, Judge Aubrey Rimes ordered him out of the courtroom because he did not like his turban calling it “that rag” and threatened to punish him unless he removed it, the ACLU said in a press note. “The officers' shameful treatment of Jagjeet Singh was an abuse of their authority and a betrayal of the public's trust that law enforcement officials will carry out their duties free from prejudice,” said Bear Atwood, legal director at the ACLU, Mississippi. “The fact that officers may be unfamiliar with Sikhism or other minority religions does not give them the licence to harass and degrade members of the public who follow those faiths,” Atwood said. The letter sent to Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) officials demands that they provide public documents relating to Jagjeet Singh's detention and arrest and urges them to implement a training programme to educate officers about their responsibility to treat every person with dignity and to remain respectful of religious diversity. “Sikhs deserve the same protection as all other people of faith. No person should be harassed and discriminated against by law-enforcement and judicial officers merely because he practises a minority religion,” Manmeet Singh, staff attorney for United Sikhs, said. In response to an investigation by the US Department of Justice, the county revised its harassment and non-discrimination policy to explain that religious discrimination includes forcing an individual to remove a religious head-covering. — PTI
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MLA raises banner of revolt against Bajwa
Amritsar, September 29 He sought the return of Capt Amarinder Singh to the post. In his letter to the party high command, Sarkaria has said: “The Punjab Congress is being run like a corporate in which traditional Congress workers have no say. Despite promises that the new Punjab Congress leadership will take everybody along, I don’t see this happening.“Party workers are being issued diktats from Chandigarh, encouraging a personality cult, rather than taking up issues close to the heart of every Congress man.” Coming out openly against Bajwa, Sarkaria said: “I urge the high command to review the political situation in the state before the Lok Sabha elections as all recent party programmes have flopped with the people keeping away. “The people have no faith in the new leadership which has miserably failed in winning the trust of party leaders. Consequently, grassroots workers and leaders are now leaving the party en masse. “If no corrective action is taken, a situation may arise when there will be no Congress worker to hold the party flag aloft in the state.” When contacted, Sarkaria vehemently dismisssed all talk of his joining the SAD as mere rumours. “I'm not leaving the Congress. I hope the high command will act on my plea.” He said he had some grievances, but he would not like to share these with the media at this stage. Sources in the Congress said Sarkaria was unhappy with the appointment of PPCC vice-president OP Soni as the party’s Majha zone in charge. The two leaders had fallen apart after the 2009 Lok Sabha elections when Soni lost from Sarkaria's Rajansansi assembly segment. When contacted, Bajwa refused to comment on the matter, observing that the MLA had written to the high command and he had nothing to say on it. Sarkaria minced no words in expressing support for Bajwa’s predecessor and seeking his return as PPCC president. In his letter to Sonia Gandhi, he said he had no compunction in admitting that Capt Amarinder Singh had done a lot for Punjabis as well as the Punjab Congress during his stint as Chief Minister and also Punjab Congress President. “The party stood as one under his command as long as he was at the helm of affairs,” Sarkaria wrote. He went on to say that Amarinder Singh was unfairly criticised for the 2012 assembly election debacle and that the latter still had an important role to play in Punjab politics. He also said the Punjab Congress was not doing enough to create awareness against the misuse of drugs. “I feel sad that persons and families associated with nefarious activities, including drug trafficking, have received a place of pride in the Punjab Congress,” he added.
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Sukhbir in Bangalore to attract investment
Bangalore, September 29
Sukhbir will visit the Biocon Park at the Electronic City here tomorrow. He will hold a meeting with Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar Shaw. He will also visit the Infosys campus during the course of which he is expected to call on its chief, Narayana Murthy, besides interacting with the senior management there. Sukhbir will also visit the office of the media and entertainment giant Technicolor Limited and meet the top management. In the evening, he is slated to hold a meeting with BVN Rao of infrastructure company GMR besides health sector entrepreneurs Abhay Jain of Manipal and Mohan Pai of Pai Hospitals. The Deputy Chief Minister is scheduled to host a dinner for top business honchos, including those of Bosch and Accenture companies. On October 1, he will participate in an investors’ meet in which he will showcase investment opportunities available in Punjab and also the incentives being given by the state government to attract new investment. A press note quoting Sukhbir said that the latter would emphasise that Punjab had the highest road density in the country, five operational and upcoming airports, adequate power, 13 container freight systems, 105 engineering colleges and 150 polytechnics and a per capita income 21 per cent higher than the Indian average.
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PPP: To save state from ruin, stop borrowing
Manpreet said the CM should acknowledge the problem and redress it even though successive governments were responsible for the current fiscal
mess. Manpreet asked the Punjab Government to stop borrowing as this could ruin the state in years to come. He suggested a ‘zero plan’ strategy for at least a year for completing existing projects. The PPP leader was here in connection with the party’s mass contact
programme. He visited several villages in the district such as Ghabdan, Kularan, Dhuri and
Sherpur. Manpreet claimed that private investment was not coming to the state because of poor governance and corruption. The government had no finances to run the state smoothly. Employees were not getting salaries on time, they were yet to be paid installment of dearness allowance and the third installment of pay
arrears. Manpreet said, “Even as the Punjab Roadways is witnessing heavy losses, owners of private buses are flourishing. The Deputy Chief Minister was the state’s biggest transporter whose family owns about 250 buses.”
Manpreet called upon all political parties, including the Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party
(BSP), to reach a pact for contesting the ensuing Lok Sabha elections on one platform as the Opposition, if united, had 60 per cent votes while the
SAD-BJP combine had only 40 per cent.
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Despite ban, commercial use of tractor-trailers rampant in Patiala
Patiala, September 29 The traffic police and the transport department issue challans whenever the matter is highlighted in media but there have been no sustained efforts on their part to check the rise in the use of such vehicles. The Punjab Government had banned the use of tractor-trailers for commercial purposes due to a rise in road accidents involving such vehicles. The state transport department had recently directed various enforcement agencies, including the District Transport Office and the traffic police, in the district to issue challans to such violators. However, hundreds of such vehicles can be seen plying on roads early morning when children are on their way to their schools. Recklessly driven tractor-trailers carrying bricks and other construction material are a common sight but enforcement officials turn a blind eye to the menace. Sources said the decision to ban these vehicles for commercial purposes was made following the spurt in their use without paying any tax to the government. "As tractors are primarily used for agriculture purposes, there is no tax levied on them," said a source. Due to an agriculture-dominated state, there are a large number of tractor-trailers here, which villagers rent out when they are not being used at farms. Recently, many brick-kiln owners, sand mafia contractors and others were found using these vehicles for commercial gains without paying any tax. This was allegedly done with the connivance of officials of the transport and police department. The state transport department has now issued a notice to owners of tractor-trailers stating they would face strict action if they use these vehicles for commercial purposes.
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His prized possession, a 19th century parasol
Jalandhar, September 29 The London version, which depicts the 10 Sikh gurus, however, is from the personal collection of the late Sir Charles Umpherston Aitchison, the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab from 1882 to 1887. The ‘chattri’ hangs over the Guru Granth Sahib at Navtej Singh Toor’s Urban Estate (Phase II) house here. A former chairman of the Punjab and Haryana Bar Council, Toor says: “My great grandparents brought this priced possession from Sialkot (Pakistan) post-Partition. I was only six years old then.” Nine inches in length, the parasol has been passed from one generation to the next in the Toor family. The advocate says his mother Inderpal Kaur handed its responsibility to him and his wife Sunit Inder Kaur when the former passed away in 2001. On when it was manufactured, Toor says he is unaware when and where from his ancestors bought it. The family keeps cleaning the parasol at regular intervals on its own, besides getting it polished by some jeweller on special occasions.
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Fresh signage to help people form new perspective
Sirhind, September 29 On Sunday morning, the enthusiasm of residents was palpable, at both entry points fresh signage helped them view the old garden afresh, in a new perspective. Twenty young students from Mata Gujari College and Sri Guru Granth Sahib World University, acquainted them with its cultural and historical layers in their own language under a unique transnational heritage project titled “A Punjabi Palimpsest: Cultural Memory and Amnesia at the Aam Khas Bagh.” A palimpsest is a manuscript page from a scroll or a book from which the text has been scraped and which can be used again for fresh writing. The entire town of Sirhind is embedded with several historical footprints, Buddhist, Jain, Mughal and Sikh. But the connecting dots are missing. Akbar visited the garden in 1566 AD, followed by Jahangir and Shahjahan, who stopped over at what was known to be Bagh-e-Hafiz Rakhna, during their travels between Delhi and Lahore. In the process, the bagh developed several unique historical features, which withered with time. The field work on the project began in January this year with identifying forms of cultural memory and amnesia at the Aam Khas Bagh. Representatives from the Centre for Transnational Studies, University of Surrey (UK), in co-ordination with the CRCI (Cultural Resource Conservation Initiative), Delhi, which has identified six clusters of social and historical significance in Punjab to claim stake to world heritage status, and two expert consultants began work. A two-week workshop with 20 students, selected out of 160 applicants, developed modules to promote knowledge of new kinds of connective tissue between the past and the present that can be used to build links between religious communities that have historically seen tension, conflict and displacement. The significance of such site interpretations is imbibed by local residents. Dharmender Singh, 27, says for the majority of Sikhs, Fatehgarh Sahib has great historical significance and, hence, other sites of Mughal history remain unexplored. With the involvement of the community in the project, he says: “At least people will not deface these monuments after learning about their historical significance.” The relevance of the monuments was explained with the aid of technology. Signage for the Aam Khas Bagh, with touch and motion sensors that provided audio descriptions, aroused much curiosity among the visitors. There were audios of about 14 interviews, conducted in Punjabi with people who either lived near or worked at a major monument and a film installation that projected major monuments of Sirhind, all of these made by the students after attending extensive workshops. Ioanna Manoussaki-Adamopoulou, visual anthropologist, who conducted the workshop in filmmaking, says: “They are the best people to make this film. They have the sensitivity and a personal connect with these sites.” Churnjeet Mahn, co-director of TRANS, Centre for Transnational Studies,University of Surrey, says: “People have begun to realise how significant the ordinary landscape of their town is, how secular and cosmopolitan it has been for centuries.” The garden is at present under the Archaeological Survey of India. With a heightened sense of ownership about their heritage sites, a young student from the town says: “We don’t want it to become a museum. Then it will have restrictions and rules. We want to keep it as our own.” Traditional efforts of restoring heritage remain disconnected from people, resulting in museumisation of our cultures. Gurmeet Rai, Director, CRCI, wonders: “How do we make a transition of cultural spaces, by generating historical information with people, by creating memories, when the Punjab Arts Council does not even have a mandate on education and outreach. If you educate people on their cultural heritage, they will demand more cultural space.”
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Month gone, no water supply in Muktsar villages
Muktsar, September 29
Fed up, farm labourers and farmers have lodged several demonstrations outside the District Administrative Complex, but to no avail. Sources said the department had stopped free water supply through tankers and RO (reverse osmosis) plants citing lack of funds. Lachhman Singh Sewewala, Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union leader, said the poor, especially farm labourers, were the worst-hit. Yadwinder Singh Dhillon, Executive Engineer, Muktsar, Water Supply and Sanitation Department, said: “Water supply to 10-12 villages is yet to be restored.”
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Gurdaspur SMO suspended for ‘misbehaving’ with woman
Gurdaspur, September 29 The government has posted Dr Sawinder Kumar Hans in place of the suspended official.
The orders, signed by the Civil Surgeon, have been issued on the instructions of the Principal Secretary, Health, Vini Mahajan. When contacted, Mahajan said the SMO had been “punished for misbehaving with a woman employee of a private organisation.” Sources said the official had been suspended for his “involvement” with a medical representative of Max Healthcare Private Limited. Mohan Menon, Deputy Manager, of the company, refused to comment on the matter. Max Healthcare is collaborating with the state government in identifying and treating cancer patients. It was in this context that the SMO was travelling with the company’s representative to Amritsar when he allegedly misbehaved with her. Questions are being raised as to why the employee was allowed to travel in the SMO’s private car when for such tours government vehicles are used. Dr Karamjit Singh, Director, Health, said an “exhaustive inquiry” had been ordered by the state government.
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20,900 attend cancer camp on last day
Chandigarh, September 29 Vini Mahajan, Principal Secretary, Health and Medical Education and Research, who visited the camp at Jalandhar, said those found with symptoms of cancer during the first phase of the campaign had been told to visit these camps for further investigations/treatment and to obtain expert opinion. Hussan Lal, Mission Director, National Health Mission, Punjab, visited Mohali, Dr A Kartik, Additional Secretary, Health, visited Ropar and Dr Ashok Nayyar, Director, Health Services, visited camps in Patiala, Sangrur, Barnala, Mansa and Moga. — TNS
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Punjab forgets to allot funds to dist jails for daily chores
Patiala, September 29 The scarcity of essential goods has meant that several prisons have been cooking on firewood while inmates have been making do without soaps in toilets. Sources said in Faridkot jail, food was cooked using firewood for several days as funds for cooking gas were unavailable. In a few jails, officials lacked funds to arrange for mustard oil, an essential for cooking any vegetable. At most of the places, medicines are out of stock and
only emergency drugs, which too have been borrowed from central jails, are available. Citing the death of a detained farmer in
Nabha jail due to medical complications, a senior official said such good (like medicines) were an essential and doing without these was just
not possible. Moreover, bills worth lakhs of rupees for items bought from open market are already pending with the treasury and in such circumstances, traders have refused to give anything
on credit. When contacted, Jails Minister Sarwan Singh Phillaur feigned ignorance about such an allocation. “I will look into the matter as the issue was never brought to my notice,”
he said. Principal Secretary (Home) DS Bains said the Finance Department made a mistake by cutting the “office expenditure”
for district jails thinking it only meant stationery items. “We will
immediately release Rs 20 crore for their expenditure and not let this problem recur,”
he said.
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Govt not sincere about merger with govt schools: Aided school teachers
Fatehgarh Sahib, September 29 While addressing the mediapersons, organisation's president Upjit Brar and press secretary Gurdish Singh said the
government had banned recruitment in government-aided schools in 2003,
so the management certain schools had asked the government to take over their schools
and merge their staff with that of government schools. He said as per the policy of 1975, the education department took control over the SD High School, More Mandi, in Bhatinda district along with the building, students and staff. The department has
clearly stated that the teachers working in aided schools would be recruited on the ad hoc basis and
the decision regarding the "unaided" staff would be taken through a separate policy. They said it clearly indicated that the government was not going to give seniority, service benefits to working teachers and they won't be entitled for pensions as per the new Union government policy, according to which all recruits after 2004 are not entitled for pensions. They said the leaders of unions demanding merger were playing politics and working as a tool of the government. They demanded that the policy should not be based on that of Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana. They said the state government should come
forward with a new pattern of its own and after passing it in the cabinet and the Assembly, it
should be published in newspapers to seek views of teachers. Meanwhile, the Government Aided School Bachao Front have also opposed the merger. Government Aided School Bachao president Malkiat Singh and general secretary Anju Kaura threatened to go on a hunger strike if the
government merged aided school teachers in govt schools without declaring a concrete policy. The Punjab Aided School Teacher's Union is supporting the merger. The education in government aided schools is
getting affected as there has been a split among teachers on the issue of merger. About 10 lakh students are enrolled in 476 aided schools.
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Woman dies of dengue
Fatehgarh Sahib, September 29 However, her condition deteriorated and various tests were conducted at the hospital the next day. Tests confirmed that she was suffering from dengue and her platelet-count had gone down. She was admitted to a hospital in Khanna, where the doctors referred her to the DMC, Ludhiana, where she succumbed to the disease. District Health Officer Dr Kulwinder singh said
they were closely monitoring the situation. Civil surgeon Dr Neelam Bhardwaj held a meeting with health officers and directed them to take preventive measures. She said after 33 patients had
tested positive for dengue, steps had been taken to create awareness about
the disease in the district, especially in Mandi Gobindgarh. Dr Bhardwaj said
fogging was being done in affected areas and officials had been directed to ensure that there was no waterlogging in their areas.
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BBMB staff protest decrease in pay scale
Nangal, September 29 BBMB Karamchari Sangh Avam Sanjha Morcha president Diwan Chand Sharma said instead of increasing the salaries after nine years, the board had issued a notice on August 22 stating it had implemented lower grades for helpers. Nearly 170 helpers who were getting Rs 2,930 had been put in the scale of Rs 2,720 after this notification, he said. When their request to roll back the decision were not heeded to, the union members started a chain hunger strike in front of the chief engineer's office, said Sharma. Moreover, the BBMB has put the condition of qualification for employment to wards of employees on compassionate grounds. Only those who hold an ITI certificate are being considered for the job on compassionate grounds due to which many have been deprived of their rights,
he said. The union general secretary, Sanjiv Sharma, said their other demands were filling up of vacancies, giving due promotions and a two-month salary as a bonus for the golden jubilee celebrations. Last time, during the silver jubilee celebrations, the BBMB employees were given a one-month salary as bonus, he said. This time, this should be doubled or two special increments could be given to the employees, he added.
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Link roads await repair for over 5 yrs in Punjab
Ropar, September 29Even as Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and PWD Minister Sharanjit Singh Dhillon harp on improving the road network of the state, link roads in various places have been awaiting repair for a long time.
RTI activist Dinesh Chadha said link roads connecting villages with main roads have to be repaired after every five years. However, he said, at Ropar, at least 34 link roads were lying unattended since 2001. Four roads — Kahanpur Khuhi Bhangal to Spalman, Jasse Majra to Harijan Basti, Sraan to Primary School and the Lower Surewal road — were not repaired after 2000. He said roads which had not been repaired since 2001 included Tibba
Nangal Kahanpur Khuhi to Sbaur road, Tibba Nangal Kahanpur Khuhi to Katta road, Singhpur to Baas Jhangrian up to Mukari stretch, Sraan
Pattan road to Kumbhewal, Kumbhewal to Lakhno Saskaur, Nurpur Bedi to
Raipur, Gurdwara Baba Dhian Singh to Bhoje Majra village, Gurdwara Makkowal, Dalla Shamshan Ghat, Kotli village road and Nangran Basti Mehran road. The RTI activist said the repair of almost all link roads in Punjab was pending for five years but there were some roads whose repair was pending for six to 13 years. Ropar PWD Xen (B and R) Inderjit Singh said the repair of roads was pending as the government wanted to prepare a core road network so that the roads could be maintained in a better way. The core network included rural roads which were necessary to provide basic access to all the habitations, he said. He said it was now
complete and the tenders for the repair of link roads in the district had been floated. He said the work on these roads would be started soon, he said.
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Chandigarh, September 29 The south-west monsoon had arrived this year nearly a fortnight before its normal schedule and the actual rainfall received by Punjab state between June 1 to September 29 period was 480 mm against a normal of 489.9 mm, down just by 2 per cent, which is considered as normal, an official of the Chandigarh Meteorological Department told PTI today. He said that Faridkot district had received the maximum amount of rainfall during the period at 633.4 mm as against a normal of 323.7 mm, which was 96 per cent in excess. Heavy rains had caused floods in some districts of Punjab this year including Amritsar and Gurdaspur districts.— PTI
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Districts along foothills see alarming rise in herbivores
Chandigarh, September 29 Talking to The Tribune, Chief Wildlife Warden Dharindra Singh said the increase in the population of these animals was astounding. Gun licences issued to at least 200 residents, particularly to tackle the wild boar, had not yielded any significant results. The official said the kandi (marshland) area along the lower Shivaliks had seen a sizeable increase in the population of herbivores. The affected areas included districts in the foothills of the Shivaliks, including Mohali, Ropar, Hoshiarpur and Gurdaspur. Complaints regarding damage to crops had become common. Satnam Singh, a farmer in Siswan, Mohali, said most farms in the area were big and their boundaries, adjoining the forest area, were not sealed. The green farms attracted the herbivores. While the wild boar plunder entire fields in a short span, the sambhar and neel gai uproot tender saplings. Bishen Singh of Hariana in Hoshiarpur district said that the Forest Department would have to initiate a plan to control the rapidly growing population of the herbivores.
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Permanent PCRs to be stationed
in Bathinda
Bathinda, September 29 With the move, the police aims at checking brawls, chaos and eve-teasing besides making itself easily accessible to residents. The areas were identified around two months ago. "The idea behind permanent stationing of PCRs is to make the people aware that they could get services of police anytime. This is also being done to reduce the response time to a great extent," said SSP Ravcharan Brar. — TNS
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Ex-serviceman held in Amritsar for espionage
Amritsar, September 29 The accused, Harjinder Singh, is an ex-serviceman and was also involved in smuggling of narcotics and arms from the other side of the border. Among his accomplices are Harwant Singh and Gurdev Singh of Kakkar village and Gurdit Singh of Chhidan village. The police also recovered 500 gm of narcotic powder, 250 gm of opium and a .32 bore revolver from them. Sources said the arrests were made following a tip-off that Harjinder and Harwant were to supply narcotics and arms to local drug peddlers. The duo were travelling in a car while their accomplices were riding on a motorcycle. Two cell phones with Pakistani SIM cards were also recovered. Harjinder's interrogation revealed that he would contact Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) officials to pass information on location of military bunkers and Army officials stationed there. Harjinder is the second Pakistani spy nabbed by the police. A couple of days ago, Tarwinder Singh of Lopoke was arrested on similar charges.
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Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said Amritsar’s development was the state government’s priority and that there was no dearth of funds for the purpose.
The use of tractor-trailers for commercial purposes is going on unabated in Patiala despite a ban on the same in the state. The authorities have failed to check violations in this regard putting lives of commuters at risk.
The class III and class IV employees of the Bhakhra Beas Management Board
(BBMB) have started a chain hunger strike
against the withdrawal of higher scales.
The BBMB is all set to celebrate the golden jubilee of the Bhakra Dam on
October 22.
Recent party programmes have flopped.The people have no faith in the new leadership which has miserably failed to win the trust of party leaders... The party stood as one under Capt Amarinder Singh's command as long as he was at the helm of
affairs
Sangrur, September 29
