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anti-sikh
riots
Akalis distorting comments: Capt
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Punish guilty Cong men: Akal Takht
High Court revives decorated cop’s petition for security
State
of Industry Jalandhar
Will take fight against drugs to people: Bajwa
Testing time ahead for ITI girl students
Lecturers’ body flays police action against guest faculty
Revenue officials, ADC at loggerheads
Poll duty: 90 ‘tainted’ cops under EC lens
Police foot fuel bills with fines
Bank exam results uploaded, taken off within minutes
Five of family killed as car falls into canal near Pathankot
‘Lassi’ aggravates yellow rust: PAU
Soon, college in Tarn Taran village: Badal
Roof collapse claims 3-yr-old’s life
sexual
assault case
Probe ordered 20 years after youth goes missing
100 booked for attacking health centre staff
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anti-sikh riots
Amritsar, January 28 Talking to mediapersons after inaugurating the City Bus Service here today, he said it was shocking that Rahul had not bothered to apologise to the Sikhs for the "genocide." He asked the courts to take suo motu notice of his “confession", which was an admission of the "barbaric crimes" against the Sikhs. “His admission has vindicated our stand. We’ve always held that Congress men were involved in inciting riots against the Sikhs in 1984. Rahul Gandhi’s father even justified the violence against the Sikhs, stating that when a big tree falls the earth shakes,” he said. To a question, Sukhbir said the SAD would examine the possibility of taking legal recourse against the Congress. "Punjab Congress leaders should quit the party en masse as a mark of protest." Ridiculing Rahul for his "hollow" claim that the party would punish Congress leaders found guilty in the anti-Sikh riot cases, Sukhbir claimed that those who had instigated the carnage were "always intentionally shielded" by the Gandhi clan. “Failure to punish the guilty and rewarding killers with high offices shows the real face of the Congress,” he remarked.
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Akalis distorting comments: Capt
“Rahul Gandhi was a boy of 13 when the riots took place. How can you blame someone for something he is not even remotely associated with,” he asked. He advised the Akalis not to "misinterpret" Rahul's honest and straightforward remarks. The former Chief Minister said the Akalis should rather acknowledge that Rahul had been fair in his interview, not defending any of the accused. “Should you be blamed for the sins of your Cabinet and party colleagues,” Capt Amarinder asked Badal. "Congress President Sonia Gandhi went to Darbar Sahib with me twice, first when I was PCC chief and then when I was Chief Minister, where she expressed deep regret over what had happened in 1984. Later, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh apologised in Parliament," he said.
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Punish guilty Cong men: Akal Takht
Amritsar, January 28 He alleged that the Congress was involved in the massacre of Sikhs and had rewarded leaders like Sajjan Kumar, Jagdish Tytler and HKL Bhagat for "inciting riots". He said the voters would reject the Congress which made the Sikhs feel like “slaves”. “If Rahul knew about Congress leaders' role in the riots, why did he not speak up earlier. He should now ensure that the guilty are punished,” said Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh. Noted lawyer and AAP leader HS Phoolka said while 131 persons had been awarded life imprisonment and 10 death sentence for the Gujarat riots, hardly anyone had been punished for the 1984 riots. “The massive coverup by the Congress has prevented justice being delivered to the 1984 victims. Rahul's statement is, thus, like salt on their wounds,” he said. Dal Khalsa spokesperson Kanwar Pal Singh said it was the Congress Government that had engineered the 1984 Delhi carnage. “The sinister role of Rahul's father Rajiv Gandhi is an open secret.”
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High Court revives decorated cop’s petition for security
Chandigarh, January 28 The government gave its word to provide two PSOs to Hartej Singh Sekhon before the Punjab and Haryana High Court, only to deploy an unarmed home guard volunteer at his residence a week after the petition’s disposal. Taking up the matter, a Division Bench of the High Court has now made it clear that the state would have to explain the change of its decision. Sekhon initially filed a writ petition for assessment and re-evaluation of threat perception to him and his family as “he was a retired decorated police officer involved in a number of encounters”. In the writ petition, a short affidavit was filed on behalf of Punjab Deputy Superintendent of Police (Security), stating that he has been provided two PSOs as gunmen for the security. In view of the affidavit, a Single Judge formed the opinion on July 15, 2013, that the petition had become infructuous, but granted him liberty to revive the petition, if necessity arose. Sekhon told the Division Bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Arun Palli that five days after the disposal of the petition, an unarmed home guard was posted at his residence. His counsel argued that the State of Punjab’s action was contrary to the affidavit filed before the court. He argued that the state should either have implemented the decision communicated to the court, or should have contested the petition on merits. Taking up the matter, the Bench observed Sekhon was unsuccessful in his endeavour to revive the petition as his application was dismissed. “We are of the view that the application filed by the appellant could not have been summarily dismissed in view of the facts and the state would have to explain as to what made it change its decision to a posting of home guard even after having filed the affidavit stating that two PSOs as gunmen would be provided to the appellant. “We are not mandating that the State of Punjab should provide a security of the particular level, but if it seeks to contest the case of the appellant, then it must place on record material, including the records relating to the threat perception, which can be brought for perusal of the Single Judge. “We, thus, set aside the order dismissing the application seeking revival of the petition and restore the application to its original number before the Single Judge so that this application is decided on merit…,” the Bench concluded.
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State
of Industry Jalandhar
Associated units have been facing a slew of problems, the main being high VAT and excise duty as compared to J&K and Uttar Pradesh, the other two states dealing in sports goods. There is also an acute shortage of raw material and skilled labour, besides lack of support for research and development. In 2012, Jalandhar accounted for more than half of the exports from the country. Of the total Rs 650 crore, the city’s share was Rs 350 crore — goods are sent to 130 countries. But with time, the manufacturing units are shifting their focus from manufacturing to trading, a development that has led to large-scale job losses.
Lack of raw material
The biggest challenge that the industry is facing is the procurement of raw material, including rubber, cane, thread, steel and willow. Though raw material is available in abundance in other parts of the country, it fails to reach Jalandhar due to inter-state restrictions on the movement of goods. Willow and cane are the two essentials for manufacturing cricket and baseball bats, and most of it is available in J&K, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the North East. Sources say manufacturers have even taken to smuggling of these goods. They claim almost 80 per cent of the willow and cane that reaches Jalandhar comes through illegal routes. “Instead of extending support, the government has levied heavy import and excise duty and 6.05 per cent VAT on all our products. Due to this, the cost of our products has increased manifold. How can we compete with Meerut, a city where there is no tax on sports equipment?” says Nitin Mahajan, managing director, AVM Sports. Mahajan says some of the traders have already shifted their base to either J&K or Meerut. “The government should at least ensure easy availability of raw material,” he avers.
Meerut emerges winner
Ironically, the government itself recently placed a massive order of around 5,000 cricket bats to a Meerut-based company, BDM, for Rs 18 crore. The bats would have cost 6.07 per cent more (due to VAT) had these been bought from Jalandhar. “There is 2.3 per cent excise duty on general sports goods while on soft leather products like gloves, it is 12 per cent,” says Ramesh Kohli, managing director, Beatall Sports, a company famous for manufacturing bats for Sachin Tendulkar. Kohli says the textile industry has been given complete exemption from excise tax, which was over 12 per cent. But the sports industry, he points out, has not received any such “favour”.
Shortage of skilled labour
Another challenge that the industry is facing currently is the shortage of ‘mahashaks’ (traditional stitching community), which has started affecting the production. The inflated balls produced by India were in great demand globally as these were hand-stitched by ‘mahashaks’. These have better bounce than the machine-stitched balls from China. But due to acute shortage of skilled workers, the industry cannot handle large orders and has already lost a part of its business to Meerut. “The industry is in dire need of a labour training institute and research and development centres. Due to environmental considerations, several countries have already started using biodegradable products like polyethylene,” says Kohli. Bhinder Singh, General Manager (Industries), Jalandhar, says since most of the industries running in the district are rivals, their owners are not interested in having a common research and development facility fearing the revelation of their secret traditional manufacturing skills to each other. Due to this reason, they have not shown any interest in a cluster development scheme announced by the government, he says. Under the scheme, industrialists have to pay a mere 25 per cent of the actual cost to open a research centre. The rest is paid by the Centre. “We tried our best to bring all of them under a single roof but due to stiff competition, they refused to budge. We also tried to form a Special Purpose Vehicle Committee to look into their problems but that too failed to find any takers,” he says. (To be continued)
Possible remedy
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SAD MP Ghubaya confident of his re-nomination
Chandigarh, January 28 “I have already covered the first phase of my campaign by visiting more than 1,500 villages in my constituency, besides urban settlements. I have requested Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to visit Ferozepur and assure the public about the government’s commitment for public welfare,” he said. Ghubaya is a SAD-BJP parliamentarian, and not from the Congress, as was inadvertently mentioned in these columns on Tuesday. An agriculturist by profession, he was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2009. He defeated Jagmeet Brar of the Congress by 21,071 votes. — TNS
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Will take fight against drugs to people: Bajwa
Chandigarh, January 28 He was speaking in reaction to the demand for mobilising people for the movement by presidents of the district and block committees. Bajwa said he had inputs that several drug rackets were still operating under political protection in Punjab. He said the situation in rural areas was alarming. He alleged SAD leaders were actively involved in drug trade while BJP leaders were supporting them by turning a blind eye to the matter.
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Testing time ahead for ITI girl students
Moga, January 28 As a result, students travel to Zira in Ferozepur district to take the examinations, due to which the ITI has never attracted many students. Local leaders have not shown interest to upgrade the infrastructure. The ITI’s strength has dwindled from more than 200 students to just 32, thanks to the government “apathetic attitude”. In all, 42 girls took admission this academic session, but 10 students left the institute within a month. ITI Principal Gurpreet Singh said he had repeatedly written to the higher authorities to conduct the examinations on the institute premises, but he never got a response. Samadh Bhai village resident Balbir Singh, whose daughter studies in the ITI, said: “My daughter travels more than 40 km to every day to the institute. And, now she will have to travel over 50 km to Zira to take the exams starting from February 5.” The students demand that the examinations must be held on the ITI premises because the bus connectivity between Dharamkot and Zira is poor. All government buses that ply on the route are of long route and they do not stop to board students, while the timings of the private buses do not suite them, students said. All girls studying in the ITI belong to the economically weaker section. If Dharamkot cannot be made the exam centre, the government should make the ITI in Moga the centre rather than making it in another district, students demanded.
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Lecturers’ body flays police action against guest faculty
Chandigarh, January 28 Nearly 45 lecturers had gone to Bathinda to protest, demanding salaries from the state treasury, 10 per cent annual increment, provision of dearness allowance, and being engaged for the entire year. As the lecturers were told not to protest, they held a meeting with Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal. Since the talks failed, they marched towards the DC’s office and, from there they were whisked away in buses. “They (lecturers) were pushed around and then detained,” Association President Jaipal Singh said, adding that the Punjab Government was not allowing the lecturers to hold demonstrations peacefully, what to talk about fulfilling the promises made to them during the last assembly elections. “The guest faulty lecturers are paid ~10,000 per month and that, too, from the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) fund, which is taken from students at the time of the admission,” Singh said. “The government promised us (lecturers) to pay salaries from the state treasury with 10 per cent increase per annum. We are, however, paid from the PTA fund,” a lecturer said.
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Revenue officials, ADC at loggerheads
Fatehgarh Sahib, January 28 Naib Tehsildar Nirmal Singh Sandhu, in a complaint to the Deputy Commissioner, has accused Jaggi of implicating him and two other officials in a case regarding wrong valuation of property after he did not meet his demand for a hefty bribe. Sandhu claims that while posted as Naib Tehsildar in Mandi Gobindgarh, he had in November 2009 got the sale deed of a piece of land registered for Rs 4.06 crore. Audit objections to the same were raised by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in 2009-10 and a recovery of Rs 32.48 lakh recommended. A case under the Indian Stamp Act was made out and sent to the Fatehgarh Sahib Deputy Commissioner. Later, the CAG sent a note, stating the recovery was miscalculated. “ I had informed the Deputy Commissioner about the matter. It's strange that after three years the case was re-opened by the ADC,” he has stated in his complaint. Jaggi says he had found that land was being sold on “assignment agreements” and the state had suffered a loss of Rs 72 lakh through such transactions. The land in question was gair mumkin but was sold as agriculture land to avoid paying stamp duty. When I pulled up the Naib Tehsildar, he started making baseless allegations against me,” he said. This is not the only complaint against Jaggi. The officer has had a spat with District Revenue Officer Jeevan Jagjot, who too has reportedly complained to the Deputy Commissioner. The officer has accused Jaggi of mental harassment. Revenue officials have accused the ADC of waiving recoveries from people for undervaluation of properties registered under the Indian Stamp Act. These officers say an appeal can be filed in these cases, but it has to be routed through the ADC and at least six such appeals are pending with him. “I am well within my rights to examine a case where I feel the state has suffered a loss. As I have proof against the officers, they are trying to defame me. I submitted a report against them on January 15,” Jaggi said. Arun Sekhri, DC, said he had received a complaint from the DRO and the Naib Tehsildar. The latter sent an SMS to The Tribune, denying he had made a complaint against the ADC. He said someone had played mischief by using his name.
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Poll duty: 90 ‘tainted’ cops under EC lens
Chandigarh, January 28 Chief Electoral Officer Raminder Singh said: “The list of charges against officers (not below the rank of inspectors) has been forwarded to the offices of the DGP and the Home Department. Questions had been raised on their professional integrity by different political parties and government agencies”. Refusing to give any names, the CEO said: “I cannot name anyone at the moment as the process is still underway. In the past also many officers were transferred or kept out of the election duty following complaints of their political affiliations”. The CEO’s office has also prepared a list of as many as 36 assistant returning officers out of 117 in the state who will be replaced. The officers in this category included assistant deputy commissioners, sub-divisional magistrates and district transport officers. The CEO has sought a reply from the authorities concerned by February 15. Raminder Singh said: “A summary revision of the voter’s list in the last quarter of 2013 saw an increase of around seven lakh voters”. Against 1.85 crore voters in September 2013, the revised list on January 1, 2014, showed a figure of 1.92
crore.
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Police foot fuel bills with fines
Faridkot, January 28 Earlier, the fine collected from the violators of traffic rules under Motor Vehicle Act was deposited in the state treasury. But from January 1, the police began depositing the fine collected in a new bank account of the district police, “Traffic Challan Fund”. The money is deposited on a daily basis. In the past five days, the Faridkot police have collected about Rs 72,000. Faridkot SSP Varinder Pal Singh said the traffic police took this step after the state government issued directions in this regard recently.
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Bank exam results uploaded, taken off within minutes
Bathinda, January 28 While the candidates who managed to get a print of the result have been alleging foul play, officials claimed the results were uploaded either by mistake or the website was hacked. “All is well with the recruitment process and the National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research will soon declare the results. The website was either hacked or a file containing incomplete results was uploaded by mistake,” said Kamaldeep Sangha, bank’s chief general manager. The results were reportedly uploaded on January 21. Of the around 70,000 candidates who took the exam, the results of only 5,968 were shown, they claimed. The list does not mention whether those omitted were absent or have failed in the exam. Sangha said he had received complaints from several candidates. “Such things do occur at times and the candidates need not worry,” he said. Avtar Singh Zira, bank chairman, feigned ignorance about the exam and the controversy: “I am not part of the process.”
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Finally, Mohar Jamsher gets a bridge
Fazilka, January 28 Having a typical topography, the village is surrounded by Pakistan on three sides and is segregated by the Sutlej on the fourth. The residents had been facing inconvenience since decades as the only way to enter the village was either through a boat or a seasonal pontoon bridge, which was dismantled ahead of the monsoon every year. The villagers used to ferry their belongings, crops and even heavy vehicles through a boat, putting their lives at risk, especially during the peak monsoon when the Sutlej is often in spate. The state government has spent Rs 8 crore on the construction of the 12-foot wide and 400 metres long bridge. It was completed in a year, said Executive Engineer (Drainage) Gulshan
Nagpal.
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Five of family killed as car falls into canal near Pathankot
Pathankot, January 28 The victims were returning from a village near Taragarh after attending a wedding. Pathankot Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Rakesh Kaushal and Prabhjot Singh
Virk, DSP, supervised the rescue operations. The car was fished out with a crane and the bodies of Sahil (8) and his grandmother Gulshan Kumari (56) were found inside. The body of Jagdeep Singh was found at Faridnagar, 10 km from the accident site, and of his brother Balbir Singh near Shalla Pawar, 20 km downstream. The body of the fifth victim is yet to be traced. "We have requisitioned more personnel to co-ordinate the search operation," said
Virk.
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‘Lassi’ aggravates yellow rust: PAU
Ludhiana, January 28 The PAU scientists said the tests they conducted with “lassi” last year showed that it flared up the disease.
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Laptop thieves target big showrooms
Jalandhar, January 28 The gang, that smuggles stolen laptops and other costly electronic goods like cellphones and LCDs to Bangladesh, has been employing the same modus operandi in Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Chandigarh. The gang struck Jalandhar-based Impel Computers in the wee hours of January 26, stealing 26 laptops. The gang had targeted Impel Computers in Model Town in 2008.They had taken away 80 laptops. Six of the thieves were arrested from Jharkhand at
that time. The video footage of the January 26 theft has revealed that the same gang had last year stolen 35 laptops from Laptop World near the Jalandhar bus stand. The thieves, all well-dressed and carrying luggage bags to give the impression of being travellers, were seen breaking the shutter. Police sources said the gang members hailed from a cluster of villages, including Puranpur, Rajmahal, Manikghat and Murgi Tola. "The members fan out in groups of 20 and after a recce, target electronic goods. They smuggle the stolen goods to Bangladesh on almost half the market price," said a police official. Gurpreet Singh Sunny, president of the Punjab Association of Computer Traders (PACT), said the police had not been able to bust the gang though it had targeted more than
15 thefts in the past two months.
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Soon, college in Tarn Taran village: Badal
Tarn Taran, January 28 He was speaking at the ‘bhog’ ceremony of Baba Daya Singh in Sur Singh village, 25 km from here. Badal said the proposed college would be a tribute to the religious leader and the government would bear the entire cost of its construction. The CM announced a grant of ~25 lakh for an under-construction stadium in the village. Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal announced Rs 51-lakh grant for equipping the village with the ultra-modern civic amenities.
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Roof collapse claims 3-yr-old’s life
Moga, January 28 The victims were rushed to the district hospital at Moga where Shambu was declared brought dead. Their father Mangal Ram said he and his wife were sitting outside their one-room house when the incident took place. He said the roof was in bad condition but he could not get it repaired due to lack of funds. Gurdeep Singh, village sarpanch, has demanded compensation for the family and free treatment of the victims. The police have initiated inquest proceedings under Section 174 of the CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure).
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sexual assault case
Amritsar, January 28 A “raagi” working with the SGPC, 38-year-old Ajai Singh had proceeded to Canada on leave for performing “kirtan” last year. The victim belonged to the family he was staying with in Abbotsford near Vancouver. The SGPC had placed him under suspension soon after a complaint was filed against him in February last year. He had written a letter to
the SGPC claiming that he was implicated in the case. The incident had left many in the Indo-Canadian community red-faced as the accused is the son of a former jathedar of Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of the Sikhs. The SGPC had dismissed him following his conviction in the case.
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Probe ordered 20 years after youth goes missing
Chandigarh, January 28 The development is significant as apprehensions of his elimination in a fake encounter have all along been expressed. In 1992, 16-year-old Kulwinder Singh was allegedly abducted by the police. In 1996, his father Kirpal Singh filed a petition in the High Court for investigation into the disappearance of his son. Acting on the High Court directions, an FIR for the missing person was
registered by the police. The case will come up for further hearing on March 28.
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100 booked for attacking health centre staff
Bassi Pathana, January 28 The mob alleged that a woman after giving birth died at the primary health centre due to negligence on the part of the doctors. Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) Bakhshish Singh said they registered a case after receiving a complaint from Dr Rajender Kumar. He alleged the mob locked him up in a room and attacked staff members of the centre. The police also took Dr Kumar into custody. The ASI said investigations in the case had begun and the body of Parminder Kaur had been handed over to her family. He said the victim’s postmortem was conducted at Fathegarh Sahib Civil Hospital. In the wake of the tense situation, Deputy Commissioner Arun Sekhri has imposed Section 144 in Bassi Pathana subdivision. The doctors association held a protest rally against the arrest of SMO Dr Rajender Kumar. Dr MS Walia, president of
the association, refuted the allegations of the villagers. He said the woman had died of a cardiac arrest and not due to negligence. He said the details would be discovered after the postmortem report was released. He said decision of the police to arrest Dr Kumar without holding any inquiry was illegal. The doctors threatened to hold another rally on Wednesday if the SMO was not freed. Last night, the police had to fire in the air to disperse the mob that had resorted to stone pelting after the woman’s death.
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Tarn Taran: Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said on Tuesday that the Congress should apologise to the nation for the 1984 riots by passing a resolution in Parliament. Speaking at a function in Brahampura village, he said: "The Congress must apologise for its hand in the massacre of innocent men, women and children. The Congress leaders have apologised individually, but never passed a resolution at a party forum or Parliament to express regret over the riots,” he said. The Congress lacked courage to apologise for its leaders’ role leaders in the riots, he added.
Patiala, January 28
Jalandhar, January 28