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Punjab Shamlat
Plunder-5
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2,000 acres encroached in three Ludhiana blocks
Consumers in shock as power bills get even more hefty
CM must hold Sangat Darshan in
mandis: YC
5-day House session not enough to discuss public issues: Jakhar
DSGMC flays Rahul’s speech
Employees to get 15% arrears by Dec
Govt bid to tax medical profession backfires
Local Bodies Supdt shows who’s the boss
A day of protests in Sangrur
No more fairies in PSEB textbooks for junior classes
Education Intelligence Conference
SGPC declines Rajoana’s plea for cracker-free Diwali
7 awarded 10-year jail for attacking African student
Not enough, says victim’s father
Wheat bags siphoned, 2 officials booked
Popular comedian, son die in mishap
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Punjab Shamlat
Plunder-5
Jalandhar, October 24 Former District Development and Panchayat Officer (DDPO) Jarnail Singh had passed orders against each of the 30 encroachers way back on March 9, 2004. He had also pronounced that an amount of Rs 5,000 per acre be recovered from the encroachers from kharif season of 1999 to rabi season of 2003. The department has not only failed to take possession of land worth hundreds of crores of rupees but has also not paid heed to recover Rs 4.47 crore for reaping the harvest for the past 14 years. The decision in the case ‘Panchayat of Burj Hasan village through Panchayat Officer Hardev Singh vs Rur Singh and others’ has nowhere been effected and the encroachers have been allowed to continue to reap the benefit for 28 crop cycles ever since. The case had been decided ex-parte as none of the encroachers had turned up despite notices issued against them. Even execution warrants in the case had been issued way back on September 7, 2007, but to no avail. The department has been sitting on the files even as the respondents have not approached any higher court against the decision. It is now after the arguments between Chief Parliamentary Secretary NK Sharma and Congress spokesperson Sukhpal Khaira got heated up over the issue of illegal possession of shamlat land in villages that similar cases lying buried across the state are being dug up. The Department of Rural Development and Panchayats has written to all DDPOs across the state to take out all such files and start execution for recovery of such land. Even in this case, it is now that DDPO Avtar Singh Bhullar has written to the Phillaur tehsildar on October 14 to look into the matter, report and get the land evicted. Bhullar confirmed having started action into the case. He said there were three more similar cases in Jalandhar where panchayat land was to be evicted. “But this one is the biggest and our topmost priority,” he said. 1,500 acres illegally occupied in Kartarpur In a yet another case, the revenue officials have been sitting on the recovery of a huge chunk of 1,500 acres of land declared surplus for as many as 52 years in Kartarpur, currently under the ownership of an influential man, Amarjit Singh Sodhi, who is the 12th direct descendent of Guru Arjan Dev, the fifth Sikh Guru. While the man popularly known as Guruji in the holy town passed away in November 1998, his five legal heirs, including his widow Kamaljit Kaur, his sons Karamjit Singh Sodhi and Kanwar Charanjit Singh Sodhi and daughters Gurpreet Kaur and Rajpreet Kaur, are to retain about 18.5 acres each from the chunk as per the provisions of the Land Reforms Act 1972, with the rest to be divided among 291 tenants and the state government. Spread in 14 villages Since the entire land seems to be lying untilled for years, there also is a huge question mark over the authenticity of the tenants. The land falls in 14 villages in the periphery including Gopalpur, Bidhipur, Devidasspur, Chak Ram Singh, Ram Singh Pur, Ambgarh, Sirdaspur, Narpur, Meer Chhota, Chak Mehmudpur, Dhirpur and Dyalpur. The case was originally taken up in 1961 but remained mired in litigations for all these years. The Deputy Commissioners, who are to decide it by virtue of being District Collector (Agrarian), have been just keeping the matter pending ever since. Deputy Commissioner Varun Roojam said he was not aware of the case as he had recently joined. Mockery of order * A former District Development and Panchayat Officer had passed eviction orders on March 9, 2004 *
He also ordered recovery of Rs 5,000 per acre from the encroachers from the 1999 kharif season to 2003 rabi season *
The recovery amount comes out to Rs 4.47 cr for reaping the harvest for the past 14 years *
The encroachers have so far reaped the benefit for 28 crop cycles since 1999 155 acres usurped through bogus conveyance deeds In another major bungling of land, the district administration is yet to recover nearly 155 acres of provincial land from illegal occupants who got 31 bogus conveyance deeds executed in sub-tehsil Lohian last year in connivance with a Naib Tehsildar there. Former Deputy Commissioner Shruti Singh had got a complaint lodged on the matter with the police and got Naib Tehsildar Inderjit Singh Dhanoa arrested but the revenue officials have so far failed to take possession of the land worth nearly Rs 40 crore. The administration had found that instead of allotting provincial land to the deserving landless tillers, Dhanoa illegally sold off the land to undeserving people forgoing the eligibility criterion and without taking requisite documents and a nominal fee of Rs 5,000 from them.
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2,000 acres encroached in three Ludhiana blocks
Ludhiana, October 24 About 2,000 acres has been encroached upon in three blocks alone: Ludhiana-II, Machhiwara and Sidhwan Bet. As the encroachers enjoy the alleged backing of those in power, the authorities concerned find it difficult to get the land evicted. The common reasons cited for the “helplessness” are: “The occupants have gone to various courts”; “If the land is forcibly taken back, sensitive issues of caste and creed can trigger violence”; “Politicians favour occupants as they are their vote bank”; “Law and order problem can arise if encroachments are removed”; etc. Of the three blocks, 1,000 acres has reportedly been occupied by illegal occupants in Ludhiana-II, which has 160 panchayats. The maximum 100 acres has been illegally occupied at Mand Chaunte and 55 acres in Selkiana villages. In Machhiwara, warrants have been issued for eviction of 47 acres of land in Walipur (Jagraon). However, the authorities have been finding it tough to reclaim the land. Apart from this, 85 acres has been encroached upon at Bhama Kalan village. In Sidhwan Bet, 507 acres of the total 2,152 acres shamlat is in illegal possession. District Development Panchayat Officer AS Gujral said the Deputy Commissioner had convened a meeting to discuss the matter. “We are in the process of taking the possession of the land,” said Gujral. Deputy Commissioner Rajat Aggarwal, who joined in Ludhiana recently, said he had instructed the officials to immediately clear the encroached land against which warrants of possession had been issued. Aggarwal said panchayat officers had been told to clear cases involving shamlat land in a time-bound manner. Apart from this, Sub-Divisional Magistrates have been told to arrange monthly meetings with panchayats to review land-records and discuss panchayat-related issues.
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Consumers in shock as power bills get even more hefty
Jalandhar, October 24 It also indicates the PSPCL precarious financial condition. Sensing the anger among the people, the Congress is gearing up to corner the ruling SAD-BJP alliance on the issue in the assembly session scheduled to start from October 28. For a sanctioned load of up to 20 KW, ACD is being charged for 75 days and for more than that for 45 days. It is based on annual power consumption. In simple terms, if a consumer gets a bi-monthly bill of Rs 10,000, a security of Rs 12,500 would have to be deposited by him. In several districts, consumers have got escalated electricity bills for the month of August-September because of this charge. Terming the move as “detrimental” to industry's well-being, president of the Federation of Punjab Small Industries Association of India Badish K Jindal said it was unfortunate that the PSPCL was holding the consumers to ransom. “Through ACD, the power corporation has put an additional financial burden of about Rs 700 crore on the Punjab industry, which is completely uncalled for,” he said. Consumers argue that they were paying power bill and meter rent and had deposited security at the time of release of power connection. Hence, the levy of ACD was unjust. A PSPCL official, pleading anonymity, said the a majority of consumers had been granted power connections years back when the security was nominal. The power corporation had now rationalised the same.
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CM must hold Sangat Darshan in
mandis: YC
Zira, October 24 He alleged that the CM was simply showering money on villages represented by Akali sarpanches in the name of development. After traversing a distance of 836 km, Chaudhary's "Adhikar Yatra" reached Bhadiana village in Zira subdivision of Ferozepur last night. Former minister and local Congress leader Inderjit Singh Zira organised a gathering, largely comprising farmers, that was addressed by Chaudhary. The Youth Congress chief said the SAD-BJP Government that claimed to be a messiah of farmers had left them in the lurch. For the past many days, there has been no procurement forcing the farmers to sell their produce to private agencies and rice millers at lowere rates. "It will be appropriate if Badal holds Sangat Darshan at every mandi and takes stock of the pathetic condition of farmers and redress their grievances on priority," the Congress Youth leader said.
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5-day House session not enough to discuss public issues: Jakhar
Chandigarh, October 24 Jakhar said he had submitted a written representation to Atwal requesting him to ensure at least 15 full sittings of the assembly session beginning October 28. “We want to raise several issues and require at least two hours for discussion daily,” he said. As of now, the session is to end on November 1 and it will only have four full sittings. On October 28, the session would be brief and adjourned after obituary references. “In fact, I have urged the Speaker to have a full sitting on October 28 as well,” Jakhar said. The Congress leader said Punjab should follow the Haryana pattern where after obituary references on the opening day, the session is adjourned for half an hour and then the legislators reassemble for House business. Jakhar said the Opposition wanted a detailed discussion on alleged loot of sand and gravel, property tax, advance tax, advance payment of power bills, pending VAT refund, industrial policy and regularisation of illegal colonies. “We want a white paper on the state finances and an explanation from the government on the way its officials are arm-twisting traders and businessmen to cough up more taxes,” he said.
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Employees to get 15% arrears by Dec
Chandigarh, October 24 The government had earlier announced that it would release the remaining 30 per cent arrears to its employees by December. The recommendations of the Fifth Pay Commission were implemented in 2011. The government has been releasing the arrears to the employees in installments. However, because of a slow growth in revenue this year, the government has so far not released arrears to its employees. Sources said the state government now proposed to release just 15 per cent of the arrears by December. Since the total amount that the state has to pay on account of arrears is almost Rs 750 crore (Rs 1000 crore including pension). “While half of the arrears will be deposited in the General Provident Fund of the employees, the remaining will be released as cash payment,” said an official. It is learnt that till August 2013, as against revenue receipts of Rs 12,500 crore, the revenue expenditure was Rs 13,400 crore. In August 2012, the revenue receipts were Rs 10,800 crore and revenue expenditure was Rs 13,700 crore. This year, the total VAT collections till August were Rs 5,900 crore as against Rs 5,400 crore in August 2012. Though the VAT collections have increased, the government is losing revenue on account of a ban of the registration of sale deeds of plots in illegal colonies. The stamp duty collections have come down to Rs 1,100 crore as against Rs 2,200 crore in August 2102. The sources said though the 3.15 lakh government employees were likely to get the 8 per cent dearness allowance before Diwali, they were hoping the state’s revenue to grow substantially in October and November because of festival sales and VAT on paddy.
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Govt bid to tax medical profession backfires
Chandigarh, October 24 In an embarrassment to the Punjab Government, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has quashed, with Rs 10,000 costs, the impugned notification dated March 24, 2005, prescribing “licence fee on the trade relating to the medical profession”. Virtually passing strictures on the government, the Bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Augustine George Masih minced no words to say: “We are unequivocally of the view that this is a misadventure on the part of the municipal council or the state government to include one and sundry category of trade to somehow generate revenue through licence fee without even a basic analysis of the provisions of Punjab Municipal Act”. The strictures came on a petition filed by the Indian Medical Association, Sangrur, through its secretary Dr Amandeep Aggarwal and other petitioners. They had contended that “there was no question of any endangerment and offensive trade in case of ultrasound, CT scan, testing laboratories, nursing homes and private hospitals and, thus, a licence fee cannot be imposed”. The Bench observed: “An ingenious method has been adopted by the Municipal Council, Sangrur, to raise revenue by inserting a number of trades in the category of offensive and dangerous trade to recover licence fee…. “In view of the clear provisions of the Act and the law, we called upon the Punjab Additional Advocate-General to explain to us as to how the trade of medical profession- laboratories, nursing home, private hospital, testing laboratories, ultrasound, CT scan- can be said to be an offensive trade…”. Quashing the notification, the Bench added: “The natural sequitur would be that any amount deposited by the members of petitioner association and other petitioners is liable to be refunded within a month from the date of the request being made with supporting documents, failing which interest would be payable at 12 per cent per annum. The petitioners are also entitled to costs quantified at Rs 10,000.”
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Local Bodies Supdt shows who’s the boss
Chandigarh, October 24 Sources said the Superintendent concerned had started not just recommending the cases of department employees for promotion, but had also issued letters to the officials concerned, informing them that they had been given promotional increments. Among those to have benefited are Superintendents , Head Draftsmen, DCSA, Assistant Corporation Engineers, Chief Sanitary Inspectors and Assistant Engineers. Local Bodies Minister Anil Joshi, when told about the promotions, said he would take immediate action against the Superintendent. “If any department official has accepted illegal gratification for either issuing promotions or for transferring an official, I will take the strictest possible action against him. I don’t think there is a ban on issuing time-barred increments. But the Superintendent could not have done it on his own. He should have taken my approval before issue letters, granting the time-barred scales,” he said. Government employees get the first promotional increment after four years of service, the second after nine years and the third after 14 years. But the new pay scales were implemented in 2011 (on the recommendations of the Fifth Pay Commission) and the Finance Department is yet to fix the fitment of employees in the new grade pays. Hence, the Personnel Department had been told that till the hierarchy issues were sorted out, these time-barred increments must be held back. The benefited *
Among those to have benefited are Superintendents, Head Draftsmen, DCSA, Assistant Corporation Engineers, Chief Sanitary Inspectors and Assistant Engineers *
Govt employees get the first promotional increment after four years of service, the second after nine years and the third after 14 years *
Though new scales were implemented in 2011 (Fifth Pay Commission), the Finance Dept is yet to fix fitment of employees *
Hence, the Personnel Dept had been told to put these increments on hold
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A day of protests in Sangrur
Sangrur, October 24 Thereafter they staged a dharna outside the district administrative complex (DAC). The members of the Punjab State Ministerial Services Association also held a rally at the district administrative complex and took out a protest march. State government pensioners also held a dharna for the fourth consecutive day and observed a hunger strike outside the district administrative complex today. On the call of the Punjab Government Pensioners' Joint Front, the government pensioners from Mansa district observed a hunger strike here to protest against the state government for not accepting their demands. The pensioners also held a rally against not releasing monetary benefits. Their demands include release of two installments of dearness allowance (DA) from January to July 2013. RL Pandhi, district general secretary, Pensioners Welfare Association, Sangrur, said besides the release of DA installments they also demanded enhancement in medical allowance.
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No more fairies in PSEB textbooks for junior classes
Mohali, October 24 The move has been taken on the advice of the Punjab Tarksheel Society, which has submitted a detailed report on such content, available in the syllabus books of Classes I-VIII. "The children should be taught with a scientific approach. They should not be fed on superstition," the society has informed the board authorities. Board chairperson Tajinder Kaur Dhaliwal said the society's advice would be adhered to soon. "In fact, I have already issued instructions to subject experts to start removing the content in question in a phased manner,” said Dhaliwal. She said such content could have an unscientific effect on the children's temperament. Jarnail Singh Kranti, president, Punjab Tarksheel Society, said almost all the textbooks except that of mathematics have such content. “We prepared a detailed report and submitted it to the board with a suggestion to remove such content,” said Kranti. During examination of books, their team laid emphasis on content related to gods, fairies, angels and fictitious stories of emperors and queens, religions among others, he added. On June 22, a meeting was held between the board officials and the members of the society in this regard. “All these issues were discussed in the meeting. We are happy that the board has started working in this direction," said
Kranti.
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Education Intelligence Conference
Chandigarh, October 24 Keynote speaker Dr Steve Cox, Director, Rio Grande University, Ohio (US), talked about the huge skill gap between what industry required and what the education system developed here. In the first session, the panel members presented their vision of Chandigarh and areas like Mohali to be developed as an IT hub for technology start-ups in the fields of robotics and nanotechnology by 2020. Prof SNS
Nagra, president, Asia Pacific, Student Space, said: “The important question is what do we value the most and have we set the clarity of objectives and also are we imparting that to the students.” In the afternoon session, educationist Prof RK Wasan said many private colleges in Punjab had failed to create their brand value and global competency due to lack of expert faculty and poor infrastructure. B.
Purushartha, Director, Technical Education. & Industrial Training, Punjab, said to make available skilled manpower to the industry and to check the growing unemployment, the Punjab Government has given its nod for setting up four multi-skill development
centre.
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SGPC declines Rajoana’s plea for cracker-free Diwali
Amritsar, October 24 Talking to mediapersons here today, SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar said they could not change the age-old traditions of Sri Harmandar Sahib at the behest of any individual. He said the tradition of “deepmala” and fireworks would continue as usual. A couple of days ago, Rajoana’s sister Kamaldeep Kaur had handed over a letter to Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh. The letter, written by
Rajoana, had appealed to the Sikh community not to burst firecrackers this Diwali and utilise the money thus saved in extending help to 1984 anti-Sikh riot victims.
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7 awarded 10-year jail for attacking African student
Jalandhar, October 24 Those convicted are Sumit Ralhan, Sahildeep, Romy Uppal, Amandeep Singh, Amarbir Singh Bajwa, Harsh Gosain and Jaswant Singh. They have been held guilty under Section 307 (attempt to murder), Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy), Section 452 (house trespass for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint) Section 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), Section 149 (unlawful assembly and one year under Section 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon) of the IPC. Romy Uppal has also been convicted for a year under Section 482 (for wrong number plate of vehicle) of the IPC. He is the son of deceased Superintendent of Police Dharam Singh Uppal. Uppal, who died of cardiac arrest, was suspended as Nawanshahr Superintendent of Police (SP) for allegedly intimidating witnesses in the case. The other two accused in the case, Jaskaran Singh and Rantej Singh, have been declared proclaimed offenders. The victim, a 23-year-old Bachelor of Computer Science student, is a Burundi national. Ever since the attack, he has been bed-ridden. His father Nestor Ntibateganya, who had earlier appeared in the court, did not attend the hearing. Yannick was attacked outside his rented accommodation in Dashmesh Nagar on Garha Road while he was celebrating the birthday of one of his friend Astro, also a student of the LPU. The police did not initiate any action. It finally started making arrests in July after the victim's father approached Chief Minister.
The verdict A copy of the 102-page judgment reads: "All the convicts individually got their respective pleas recorded. They submitted that they are unmarried and their ages range from 21 to 25 years.They all have got families to support. Particularly, Sumant Ralhan and Ramneet Singh submitted that their fathers had expired and they were to look after their widowed mothers. Sahildeep and Amandeep submitted that they were brothers... All convicts requested for a lenient view. No doubt, all convicts are young men and have families to support. Yet these facts do not deserve any lenient view. They formed a gang having no regard for life and liberty of others. They are out to teach anyone a lesson or even eliminate those who dare to cross their path. They have become a menace to society... "They pounced upon a helpless foreigner. The result of their brutality is that victim Yannick Nicky is still fighting for his life and is in coma for about thr past one-and-a-half years. While deciding the quantum of sentence, the fate of the victim cannot be ignored. Such elements need to be dealt with a stern hand so that the fear of the law travels down their spine." At the court Complex * Soon after the judgment was announced, two of the seven convicted broke down * Police personnel in the complex had to intervene to prevent the situation from turning ugly * More than 40 police personnel, including SHOs, had been deployed at the court premises * The families also blamed the police for being unfair * They accused the police of sparing African youths who had indulged in ‘rioting’ on Garha Road five months ago
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Not enough, says victim’s father
Patiala, October 24 Yannick has been at Columbia Asia Hospital here since the past almost two years. "I have been here at my son's side since two years. My family back at Burundi has been living in fear, wondering whether or not Yannick will see the next day," he said. Pointing out that his son had been attacked by nine persons, he said the government must nab the other two as well. Nestor said while the hospital had made suitable arrangements, the Punjab Government was yet to pay Yannick's medical bill which was more than Rs 1 crore. "The government has only paid Rs 5 lakh to the hospital. The hospital bill now is over Rs 1 crore and I have myself spent lakhs on my stay in the country, borrowing money from relatives and friends. I hope the government clears the bill and bears the cost of shifting Yannick back to our country," he Nestor said. He said though his son was off the ventilator, there was no movement of the limbs. Patiala Deputy Commissioner GK Singh, when contacted, said the government had almost completed arrangements to airlift Yannick to his country. "This will cost Rs 40 lakh because the government will have to purchase a portable ventilator and a suction machine to ensure there is no danger to his life during the journey," he added.
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Wheat bags siphoned, 2 officials booked
Abohar, October 24 The police later recovered 400 bags from a rented godown on Fazilka Road and arrested businessman Paramjit Singh alias Pamma for the offence. It booked Bhupinder Singh and Laxman Dass, both Inspectors with the Department of Food and Civil Supplies and Punsup, under Sections 408,409 and 420 of the IPC after preliminary investigation. During the past one year, at least six cases of “theft” in various govt godowns in the subdivision have been reported.This is so because most storage centres do not have a boundary wall.
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Popular comedian, son die in mishap
Garhshankar, October 24 They were returning from Garhshankar to their native village Thuana near Mahilpur when their car collided with a canter at Satnaur village. They died instantly. The driver of the canter fled. The postmortem was conducted at the Civil Hospital Garhshankar. The cremation will take place tomorrow. Known lyricist Gurminder Kaindowal, expressing sorrow at Ghora's demise, said the entire music industry in the state was in a state of shock. — OC
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Leader of the Opposition in Punjab Assembly and senior Congress leader Sunil Jakhar today urged Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal to extend the forthcoming Assembly session for 10 more days.
The two-day Education Intelligence Conference that began here today highlighted the mismatch between skill training, student competency and industry requirement in the region and the resultant unemployment among the educated youth. 
The fast-track court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Dr Balwinder Kumar Sharma today sentenced seven youths to 10 years' imprisonment for the murderous attack on Lovely Professional University
(LPU) student Yannick Nihangaza in April last year.
Talking to The Tribune, Nestor said his son was on deathbed with barely any chances of recovery. "I don't know about the Indian Constitution. But had the incident occurred in my country, the court would have awarded capital punishment to the guilty.