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Govt in worst-ever fiscal crisis
Capt seeks blessings of Bathinda dera
Amarinder accuses Jaitley of conspiring against Modi
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Sukhbir flays EC move to limit atta-dal supply
No ‘proof’ of liquor at rally, clean chit likely
Medical graduates cry foul
Embassy moves Riyad court for youths’ release
Manpreet begins campaign in Lambi
Won’t allow Cong to open account: Badal
Cong’s Dharamsot starts campaign
Bhattal for setting up campaign panel
Sidhu campaigns for Gadkari in Nagpur
Bhattal opposes Capt’s acting chief proposal
Phillaur’s son again fails to turn up before ED
SGPC passes Rs
905-cr budget for 2014-15
Police unearth Pakistan spy’s modus operandi
Youth’s arrest has Mann village in panic
Ladhar told to pay another
Rs 6 lakh
Soni visits deras
State to be power-surplus this year: PSPCL
spurious milk racket
BKU and Akali workers block the Moga-Amritsar national highway to protest against the police at Kot-ise-Khan town in Moga on Thursday. A Tribune photograph
Police beef up security of VIPs
Arrested DSP has cops in tizzy AAP man alleges frame-up in drug case Tainted officer gets posting
Madrasa teacher held for rape
ITI official held in graft case
Bodies of missing lovers found in canal
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Govt in worst-ever fiscal crisis
Chandigarh, March 27 As a result, a large number of employees of the Education, Health and Animal Husbandry departments, who have been without salary for almost three months now, will have to wait longer till the state government gets enough money to come out of the overdraft and reach the ways and means advance limit. The only bills that have been cleared this month are contingency bills — fuel bills, telephone bills and bills for stamp duty deposited by departments in case of affidavits. Sources in the state Treasury told The Tribune that through most part of the month, they had “received verbal instructions on not releasing any payments for pending bills”. Initially there was a strike by the ministerial staff, which led to the delay in payment of most salaries. After the strike got over on March 5, the treasury released salaries on March 6-7 and March 10, following which all payments were stopped. An official said till March 21, they were releasing contingency payments but all these have stopped as the state crossed the ways and means advance and entered into an overdraft. Officials in the Finance Department said salaries of most government employees had been released on March 6 and 7. “The salaries of the employees of some departments that had exhausted their budgets for the financial year in November and had failed to seek additional grants from the Finance Department have been delayed. It was only after the Finance Department prepared its revised budget estimates that these departments sought additional funds for salaries. These cannot be released till the Punjab Governor approves the revised budget estimates,” said an official. However, by the time the revised budget estimates were okayed by the Governor, the government had gone into an overdraft. As such, these employees failed to receive their salaries.
Cracking the whip *
The RBI action came after the government slipped into an overdraft of Rs 250 crore *
The government had already availed ways and means advances’ limit of Rs 580 crore *
The only bills cleared this month are contingency bills, including for fuel and telephone
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Capt seeks blessings of Bathinda dera
Bathinda, Mach 27 The Baba advised Amarinder to tread the path of justice and work for the people, if he was to regain his lost glory. Amarinder, who was accompanied by his confidant Bharat Inder Singh Chahal, said: “ I would not like to make a political statement. This visit is not political." Amarinder, Baba Sukhdev Singh and Chahal took langar. Congress-PPP candidate Manpreet Singh Badal's son Arjun said he was there to deliver his father's message to "Captain uncle.” General secretary of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee Harminder Singh Jassi and former Bathinda MLA, who has had differences with Amarinder, was at the dera to welcome
Amarinder.
In Amritsar today Amritsar: The stage is set for the arrival of former CM and Congress candidate Capt Amarinder Singh here on Friday. He was last week declared the nominee from Amritsar. Local Congress leaders held a series of meetings with their supporters to review the preparations for a rousing reception to the veteran leader. Amarinder is expected to reach Amritsar around noon and he will enter the city in the form of a cavalcade. He would be welcomed at 17 different points by the local party leaders and workers en route to the Golden Temple where he will pay obeisance. — TNS
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Amarinder accuses Jaitley of conspiring against Modi
Amritsar, March 27 In a statement released here, Capt alleged: "Let me tell you, your party and your ally Parkash Singh Badal are as much responsible for Operation Bluestar and terrorism as anyone else". Capt also warned Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia against "intimidating and arm-twisting" Congress workers in Amritsar. About Majithia's "concern" that he (Capt) had still not come to Amritsar, Capt said he should know that it took time to plan things before executing these. Addressing a press conference here this evening, Jaitley said it was Capt who had started a debate on Operation Bluestar and that he was merely responding to it. "He sits in the company of those who are guilty for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and he wants to ask me questions". He said: "There was no need to raise the Bluestar issue and when he did so you cannot expect me to sit quiet". On "160 club" charge, he termed Captain as a "poor scriptwriter" while stating that he was among the first one in the BJP to realise that there was a groundswell in favour of
Modi.
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Sukhbir flays EC move to limit atta-dal supply
Chandigarh, March 27 In a statement here, Sukhbir alleged: "The Congress is scared of popularity of the scheme and wants to stop it all costs". He said the government had made arrangements for supplying each family six months' supply of flour. "But the distribution has been restricted to one month's supply,” he said.
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No ‘proof’ of liquor at rally, clean chit likely
Chandigarh, March 27 Commenting on the development, a Congress functionary said: “We do not expect any action from the CEO since all other complaints against the ruling party have been ignored”. Chief Electoral Officer VK Singh said: “Officers have tried their best to contact the witnesses in the list. All of them have given excuses for not deposing before the Patiala Deputy Commissioner.” The Congress had sought a re-inquiry after an earlier probe absolved the SAD of the charges. Sukhpal Singh Khaira, PPCC spokesperson, has alleged violation of the model code of conduct by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal during a political rally in Faridkot on March 25. While speaking in favour of SAD-BJP candidate Paramjit Kaur Gulshan, Sukhbir had allegedly promised to release one lakh tubewell power connections within a month. He had also said the process to issue tubewell connections would be simplified. The CEO said he had not yet received a complaint in this regard.
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state quota for students in pg courses
Chandigarh, March 27 Maharashtra, Gujarat and Chandigarh give admission in PG courses to only those students who have passed MBBS from medical colleges in their areas. Haryana allows medical graduates, who are domiciles of Haryana, to compete for the state quota seats, even if they have passed out from colleges outside the state. But it gives 5 per cent additional marks to graduates from colleges in the state. The Punjab Government, that often talks of discrimination by the Centre, has not offered any such incentive to its own MBBS graduates. A graduate from any part of the country can compete against the state quota seats, if he or she is a resident of Punjab. A worried parent of a fresh MBBS graduate said that of the first 550 medical graduates appearing for counselling for admission in the PG courses tomorrow, more than 100 were those who had graduated from other states. The Registrar of Baba Farid Medical University of Health Sciences, Darash Singh Sidhu, said that the "counselling was being held as per the policy laid down by the state government and there is no dispute in this regard”. Of the total PG courses seats, 50 per cent will be filled on the basis of the All-India Post-Graduate Medical Entrance Test. The remaining will be filled from the state quota. Sixty per cent of the state quota seats are reserved for in-service PCMS doctors who have worked in rural areas. While Punjab domiciles, who have studied outside the state, are eligible to compete for the state quota seats in Punjab, those who have passed out from Punjab cannot compete in Chandigarh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and other states for admission in PG courses. Conflict of interest * Haryana allows medical graduates, who are domiciles of Haryana, to compete for state quota seats, even if they have passed out from outside the state *
But it gives 5% additional marks to those graduating from state colleges * Punjab offers no such incentive to its own graduates
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Embassy moves Riyad court for youths’ release
Hoshiarpur, March 27 The embassy has filed a case in a Saudi court on behalf of 14 boys who approached it (the rest of the captives live in two separate groups and are yet to reach the embassy) and narrated their woes to the officials. The next hearing is on April 30. Speaking to The Tribune on phone from Riyad, Gurdev Singh of Manesh village in Gurdaspur said: “Ours is a group of 14 boys and we have been living in a camp near a power house in Riyad. The rest of the captives have been living in two other camps.” Gurdev said the remaining captives too were planning to reach the embassy to seek legal help. They were awaiting money from their parents and relatives in India for travel to Riyad from their respective places. ‘The Indian Govt is the only hope’ Navdeep Singh said the embassy had assured them of all help. “We have been left with no option but to return empty-handed. But the company is not allowing us even that. Only the Indian Government can save us now," said Sharanjit Singh. Among the 38 boys are * Gurdev Singh of Manesh village, Gurdaspur *
Sajan Singh of Sehaniwali village, Amritsar * Manpreet Singh of Chachowali village, Amritsar *
Kuldeep Singh of Timmowal village, Amritsar * Jorawar Singh of Dagham village, Hoshiarpur *
Gurmez Singh of Jordha Labana village,
Gurdaspur * Mangal Singh of Tangra village, Amritsar * Jagjeet Singh of Ekalgadda village,
Amritsar * Harpeet Singh of Tangra village, Amritsar * Sharanjit Singh of Tangra village in Amritsar *
Gurjit Singh of Shakri Gill village, Gurdaspur * Kulwinder Singh of Kala Bala village, Gurdaspur *
Navdeep Singh of Aulakh Kalan village, Gurdaspur * Sucha Singh of Jindwari village, Rupnagar
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Manpreet begins campaign in Lambi
Lambi, March 27 Sources say Maheshinder and Gurdas Badal, who are first cousins, do not share cordial ties. On March 19, during a meeting at Maheshinder's residence, some workers had accused Manpreet of "victimising and torturing" Congress men when he was part of the SAD-BJP Government. Gurmeet Singh Khudian, Congress district president, who accompanied Manpreet said: "Mahesh ji thinks that when I am touring villages with Manpreet, he need not appear at public meetings. He is undoubtedly backing Manpreet." Maheshinder has always given a tough fight to Parkash Singh Badal. Most people of the area say they have always vote for Maheshinder, not for the party. He is popular among the downtrodden people because of charity works. Manpreet is depending on the Congress in this constituency from where Maheshinder had got more than 43,000 votes in the last assembly elections. In 2007, Maheshinder had lost to Badal by just 9,000 votes. Manpreet today visited 18 villages. To win over Congress workers, he said: "I lost the Assembly elections because I was alone then. Now I have your support and I will definitely win." Manpreet's father Gurdas Badal accompanied him everywhere.
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Won’t allow Cong to open account: Badal
Tarn Taran, March 27 Addressing a rally in support of
SAD-BJP candidate from Khadur Sahib Ranjit Singh Brahampura, Badal said it was “childishness” on the part of the Congress to field all its senior leaders in a single election. “The Congress is losing at the national level. In Punjab, the party will not be able to even open its account,” he said. On former Chief Minister and SAD
(Longowal) chief Surjit Singh Barnala extending support to the Congress, Badal said that won’t matter as the Congress had already “conceded defeat at the national level”.
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Cong’s Dharamsot starts campaign
Fatehgarh Sahib, March 27 Legislators Kuljeet Singh Nagra (Fatehgarh Sahib), Kaka Randeep Singh (Amloh), Gurkirat Singh Kotli (Khanna), Amrik Singh Dhillon (Samrala) and senior Congress leader Advocate Harnek Singh Diwana were among those present at the programme. Sitting MP Sukhdev Singh Libra was conspicuous with his absence. Dharamsot, however, maintained that he had met Libra yesterday evening to seek his blessings and said the senior leader could not attend the programme as he was busy with his social commitments. “I had never applied for the ticket, but feel honoured to have been chosen by the party high command to contest the elections,” he said. Flaying the Punjab Government, Dharamsot said the Badals were befooling people of the state by claiming credit for the Atta-Dal scheme by spending Rs 1 per kg only while the central government was providing the same to the state government after spending Rs 23 for 1-kg wheat. “The industrial units, especially in the steel town of Mandi Gobindgarh, have moved to the neighboring states due to state’s faulty industrial policy,” he said, adding that the law and order in the state was at its lowest ebb. The Congress nominee said the government had failed to fulfill the promises made to the people during the last assembly elections. Dharamsot said he had served the people of the area for the past 25 years and had vast knowledge about their problems, while his opponent was an outsider and was picked up by the Badals for promoting their selfish interests. “My agenda is to ensure all-round development of the nine assembly segments in the parliamentary constituency.”
Modi agent of US: MLA
Fatehgarh Sahib legislator and AICC secretary Kuljeet Singh Nagra lashed out at the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, terming him the agent of the US government. “The speeches by Modi seem to be prepared by American agents and later translated into Hindi by his party,” he said. — TNS
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Bhattal for setting up campaign panel
Chandigarh, March 27 Talking to mediapersons here, Bhattal, said at a time when the Congress was upbeat after senior party leaders had been fielded from various constituencies, there was no need to appoint a working president. Instead, the party should have a campaign committee comprising senior leaders, she said. Amarinder had demanded that with Bajwa and other senior leaders in the fray, a working president be appointed. He had proposed the name of MLA Laal Singh. “A campaign and coordination committee should be set up under Shakeel Ahmed. The latter had sought my views on the matter. On his insistence, I have sent the proposal to the Congress president,” Bhattal said. — TNS
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Sidhu campaigns for Gadkari in Nagpur
Amritsar, March 27 Sources said Sidhu had a day off in the ongoing T-20 World Cup in Bangladesh and so, he flew to Nagpur to seek votes for Gadkari. His move has now fuelled speculations as to whether he would come to Amritsar to campaign for Arun Jaitley, who has replaced him as the BJP nominee here. Sidhu had said in the past that he would campaign for whoever is fielded by the party form Amritsar. He even said he would campaign for Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal from the core of his heart wherever he would ask him to. “If I can campaign for the SAD in Delhi I can do it in Punjab as well,” he had stated. Jaitley, too, had said Sidhu would campaign for the BJP. “He will be canvassing for the party in the elections as soon as he is free from cricket commentary assignments in the T-20 World Cup,” he recently said. Meanwhile, there is also a buzz in the political circles here that now that the the Congress had fielded Captain Amarinder Singh, the BJP would have to get in Sidhu for Jaitley’s campaign to counter the former Chief Minister in the constituency, which is dominated by Sikhs.
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Bhattal opposes Capt’s acting chief proposal
Chandigarh, March 27 Talking to mediapersons here, Bhattal said at a time when the Congress was upbeat after senior party leaders had been fielded from various constituencies, there was no need to appoint a working president. Instead, the party should have a campaign committee comprising senior leaders, she said. Amarinder had demanded that with Bajwa and other senior leaders in the fray, a working president be appointed. He had proposed the name of MLA Laal Singh. “A campaign and coordination committee should be set up under Shakeel Ahmed. The latter had sought my views on the matter. On his insistence, I have sent the proposal to the Congress president,” Bhattal said. Bhattal said she was not keen on contesting the Sanguru seat and had told the high command that Vijay Inder Singla was a good candidate. The former CM said SAD candidate PS Chandumajra from Anandpur Sahib would lose by a huge margin " He is disrespectful towards women and the electorate will teach him a lesson," she added.
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Phillaur’s son again fails to turn up before ED
Chandigarh, March 27 Instead, ED officials received from Damanvir a written reply citing “ill-health”. He pleaded that his appearance be deferred till he “recovered from his ailment”. Damanvir’s friend Chunni Lal Gaba (a businessman) — the whereabouts of both are now known — too had cited “ill-health” for non-appearance before the ED yesterday. It has been learnt that the ED had little option but to grant them a fresh date for making themselves available for questioning. Interestingly, Phillaur had all this while been maintaining that his son was yet to receive ED summons. Sources said the duo have taking “ill-health” route to avoid questioning in the illicit drug trade case, which was exposed with the arrest of alleged druglord Jagdish Singh Bhola. In case the duo failed to reply to second summon, the ED would have issued the third (and final) summons. If missing again, the ED had the power to get arrest warrants issued. It is probably to avoid the third summons that the duo have responded and sought a later date. The ED last Friday filed its first chargesheet in the case in a Patiala court. But, the legal document did not contain the names of either Damanvir or Gaba. The name of Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia, named by Bhola in the racket, too, did not find any mention. The ED only attached a copy of the statement made by Bhola (wherein he had named the trio) as a proof to substantiate its claim before the court that they needed more time for investigation.
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SGPC passes Rs
905-cr budget for 2014-15
Amritsar, March 27 This is the third successive year when the budget could not be presented and approved in the SGPC general house as the fate of the new House continues to hang in balance over the Sehajdhari row. Therefore, like the last couple of years, the budget was passed by the SGPC executive committee. The budget was presented by general secretary Sukhdev Singh Bhaur and it was approved by the committee members led by SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar. In the budget, an amount of Rs 560.51 crore was allocated for managing the gurdwara affairs of the shrines falling under Section 85, which is up by Rs 49 lakh as compared to last year. The SGPC-run educational institutions have got Rs 154 crore in the budget, which is also up by Rs 20 crore. An amount of Rs 54 crore has been allocated to General Board Fund, which is Rs 5.6 crore more than last year; Rs 37.80 crore to the Trust Fund, which too is Rs 6.56 crore more than last year. The Education Fund has been raised to Rs 29.25 crore as compared to Rs 23.9 crore last year. Dharam Parchar Committee has got Rs 63 crore, up by Rs 11 crore from last year, for propagation of Sikhism. For printing presses, the SGPC has allocated Rs 6.4 crore, which is also up by Rs 31 lakh as compared to the last year. Later, Makkar said this year’s annual budget has gone up by 12.2 per cent as compared to the previous year. He said the budget has been passed by the executive committee as per the SC orders. He said the SGPC is constructing 13 more schools and colleges, the construction work of which is already on. He said over 1 lakh students are acquiring education in the SGPC-run institutions. He said they have also made the provision for free education to baptized Sikh students, adding that they’ve waived off fee of 2,000 students under the norm. He said they’ve also set up a cancer relief fund, besides another to extend aid to bright students from poor economic background.
Allocation * Rs 560.51 crore — Maintenance, development of 86 gurdwaras across country *
Rs 154 crore Upkeep, development of SGPC-run schools and colleges * Rs 63 crore Propagation of Sikhism *
Rs 54 crore General Board Fund * Rs 37.80 crore Trust Fund * Rs 29.25 crore Education Fund *
Rs 6.4 cr Printing Press
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Police unearth Pakistan spy’s modus operandi
Amritsar, March 27 The police claimed to have unearthed a sophisticated mechanism used by Lovedeep to transfer official documents to his handlers in Pakistan. Manmohan Singh, AIG (Counter-Intelligence) said the police raided the Fax My Way company at Vasundhra Avenue, Ashok Vihar, New Delhi. The company provided business solutions to its clients who did not have internet access. The clients faxed original documents to an allotted post box (a dedicated fax number), which was later converted into an e-mail and sent to the recipient. Lovedeep utilised the company's services to fax secret documents to his handlers on a fake email ID. “The search of the premises has yielded valuable evidence, including the original faxes sent by Lovedeep and the subsequently generated emails,” the AIG said. Meanwhile, Lovedeep has been sent to police remand for six days. He was arrested by the SSOC with photographs of restricted areas, restricted Army Manuals and a sketch of military installations. Sources said Lovedeep had confessed to have been lured by Pakistan's ISI about 18 months back. He said he was providing information to his handlers on the movement of Army units in Faridkot, Ferozepur and Fazilka Sectors, new bunkers on the Indian side and photos of Army vehicles and Army exercises. The sources said Lovedeep would receive payment through a fake bank account in the Punjab National Bank, Faridkot, opened in the name of Gurcharan Singh.
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Youth’s arrest has Mann village in panic
Mann (Lambi), March 27 A few days ago, the police raided a house in the village and arrested Amardeep Singh, who had contested the panchayat elections last year. The incident had taken place 10 months ago wherein bullets were fired in air and some cars were torched outside a polling station. Though the police claim that Amardeep is an accused in the ongoing case, the residents allege the action is aimed at intimidating them. Amardeep’s brother Navdeep Singh said: “All these months nobody asked a single question about my brother. With the elections round the corner, the police have arrested him to put pressure on families affiliated to the Congress.”
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Ladhar told to pay another Rs 6 lakh
Chandigarh, March 27 Information to this effect was provided to advocate HC Arora, who had brought to the notice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court the issue of the IAS officer charging arbitration fee from the farmers. Arora came to know through RTI that the order issued by the High Court has not been fully complied with by the Punjab Government. It had not verified from its records whether Ladhar had deposited the entire amount of arbitration fee received from farmers and the government had accepted with closed eyes whatever amount was deposited. Arora then sent a legal notice to Punjab Chief Secretary and Jalandhar Division Commissioner asking them to do the needful failing which he would be compelled to file a contempt petition. Acting swiftly, the Commissioner under instructions from the Personnel Department got an audit conducted, according to which Ladhar was still required to pay Rs 5,99,335 to the government, in addition to Rs.1.80 crore already deposited by him. Arora had alleged Ladhar had collected Rs.1.58 crore as arbitration fee for conducting arbitration between the NHAI and farmers whose land was acquired. He had fixed the arbitration fee as Rs 3,600 per case. In a particular case involving 629 applications, he charged separate fee per application and collected Rs 26 lakh for passing a common order, the petition alleged. — TNS
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Soni visits deras
Ropar, March 27 Soni, who reached here at 10 am, proceeded towards Anandpur Sahib and paid obeisance to Takht Sri Keshgarh Sahib.
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State to be power-surplus this year: PSPCL
Patiala, March 27 He was speaking at a national seminar on “Problems and Challenges of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises” organised by the School of Management Studies (SMS) of Punjabi University here today. “We have been investing heavily in the transmission and distribution sectors to make the surplus power available to the consumers by using cost-effective measures. We are simplifying procedures and striving to reduce gaps between the consumers and suppliers of quality power in and outside the state,” he said. Chaudhri further said that: “We are in the process of adopting open access mechanism, facilitating direct purchase of power from the grid at cheaper rates.” Later, he released a book titled “Problems and Challenges of Mini, Small and Medium Enterprises”. On the status of mini and small-scale industries, Punjabi University registrar AS Chawla said the industrial units had always remained in dominance, braving grave problems and challenges in the areas of finance and technical upgrade.
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spurious milk racket
Moga, March 27 The police had seized 24,000 litres of spurious milk filled in two tankers (trucks) on Tuesday night. Kulbir Singh, the sarpanch of Longiwind village of Dharamkot sub-division, and drivers Gurdip Singh of Khai village and Jasbir Singh of Lohara village were arrested on the spot on charges of making spurious milk. The trucks belonged to “Today Milk”, a milk-processing unit based at Nihalsinghwala town (Moga), but the police did not name the owners of this milk industry in the FIR, alleged the protesting BKU activists. The police had also not summoned the owners of this milk industry, Varinder Kumar Dod and Rakesh Kumar Dod, who are brothers. During the preliminary investigations, it had come to light that the seized spurious milk was dispatched for supply to “Aneja Foods”, another milk-processing unit based in Amritsar, but the police were allegedly hesitant about investigating the role of this company too. Moreover, the protesters said the spurious milk and the material for making it was seized from Longiwind village, which falls under the Dharamkot police station, but the FIR under sections 470, 272, 273 of the IPC and relevant sections of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, had been registered in the Kot-ise-Khan police station, which further raises doubts about the credibility of the local police. The BKU activists and Akali leaders alleged that spurious milk was being prepared in the house of the sarpanch and his brother Balwant Singh while his son Harjit Singh used to help them in marketing the milk. Both Balwant and Harjit had been named in the FIR but were not being arrested by the police. The cops had seized 10 kg dalda ghee, 15 kg salt, 50 kg powder and 20 kg sugar, besides 7 litre of acid. This material was allegedly being used to make spurious milk. Abhinav Kumar, a specialist of the health department, took samples of the milk and sent it for chemical examination in a government laboratory. Meanwhile, Varinder Kumar, owner of the Today Milk company, while talking to The Tribune has denied his involvement in the racket. “Since, we have a processing capacity of just 50,000 litres, we sell surplus milk to other milk companies. Our drivers used to supply the surplus milk to Aneja Foods. I do not know what happened during transportation of the milk,”
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Police beef up security of VIPs
Ferozepur, March 27 During a meeting of senior police officials here this evening, Bhatinda Zone Inspector General (IG) Paramraj Singh Umranangal passed instructions for foolproof safety of these people ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. The IG said irrespective of the political party, all the leaders who face specific threat perception from various subversive terrorist groups would be provided adequate security cover. The IG said the police was also keeping track of the history sheeters and proclaimed offenders in the region and sensitive areas were being identified so that security arrangements could be made accordingly. He also briefed police officials on the arrangements to be made for the elections. — OC
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Arrested DSP has cops in tizzy
Ludhiana, March 27 Always in the focus for leading a high-profile life, he enjoyed top-end cars, including a BMW. Fingers were raised at him over his frequent foreign vacations too. His network was such that every police officer used to look to him for cracking sensational crime cases.
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AAP man alleges frame-up in drug case
Gurdaspur, March 27 Before joining AAP, he worked as PA to PPCC chief Partap Singh Bajwa. Lakhwinder Singh, SHO, said on a tip-off, they raided Bajwa's residence and nabbed his aide Ashok Kumar while Bajwa fled. The police had seized 800 capsules of a banned drug.
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Chandigarh, March 27 The government has posted PCS officer (retd) Pritam Singh as Additional Deputy Commissioner (Development), Jalandhar, for three months. Other officers whose posting orders were issued include four IAS and 16 PCS officers, including the two mentioned above. Among the IAS officers, PS Gill, MC Commissioner, Patiala, has been posted as Additional Chief Administrator, Patiala Development Authority; Jaskaran Singh as Special Secretary, Housing and Urban Development; Amit Kumar as ADC, Ferozepur; and B Srinivasan as SDM, Pathankot. — TNS
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Madrasa teacher held for rape
Sangrur, March 27 Sangrur Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Mandeep Singh Sidhu said on the victim’s statement, the police had registered a case against Mohammad Amzad Khan (25), in-charge of the madrasa. He is a resident of Barkatpura village. The SSP said as per the girl’s statement, the teacher raped her on February 26 and March 17 in a room on the campus during special classes held after school hours. The girl, a student of Class 5, reportedly told the police that the teacher had also molested four other girls of her age on the madrasa premises. The accused was booked under Sections 376 (rape), 354-A (assault or use criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe her) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC and relevant sections of the Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, the SSP added. — TNS
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ITI official held in graft case
Abohar, March 27 Official sources said notes amounting to Rs 15,000 --- which were treated with chemical and given to Yadav by Naresh Kumar, owner of the private college --- were recovered from Yadav's table. In a complaint filed yesterday, Naresh had alleged that Yadav was demanding Rs 25,000 as illegal gratification to submit inspection report to the state IT Education Department in the favour of his institute. The conversation between Yadav and Naresh was recorded before laying the trap.
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Bodies of missing lovers found in canal
Abohar, March 27 Sources said Hoshiyar and Anju belonged to Kumhar and Meghwal communities and so, they were not able to convince their parents for their marriage. Hoshiyar's brother Ramesh Kumar had lodged a complaint with the police that the last message received from his mobile phone on March 22 and its location enquiry had led the family to Maseetwala headworks, where his jacket and mobile phone was found. Some persons claimed to have noticed the duo at a tea stall near the canal. Hoshiyar was pursuing a diploma course in a polytechnic institute at Rajgarh and Anju was a BA student at a college in Sidhmukh. Ramesh suspected that Anju's parents might have strangled both and threw them in the canal but the police said it did not appear so since some persons had noticed them at the tea
stall before heading towards the canal.
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Congress leader Capt Amarinder Singh today visited Dera Rumi Wala in Bhucho Kalan for “blessings” of Baba Sukhdev Singh before launching his campaign in Amritsar tomorrow.
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal here today claimed the SAD-BJP alliance would “kill two birds with one stone” during the Lok Sabha elections by “defeating” all the 13 Congress candidates, including several senior leaders.
Addressing a rally in support of
SAD-BJP candidate from Khadur Sahib Ranjit Singh Brahampura, Badal said it was “childishness” on the part of the Congress to field all its senior leaders in a single election.
The Congress tried to put up a united show as its Fatehgarh Sahib candidate Sadhu Singh Dharamsot accompanied by four legislators from the reserved parliamentary constituency launched his election campaign by paying obeisance to historic gurdwara Sri Fatehgarh Sahib here today.
Legislators Kuljeet Singh Nagra (Fatehgarh Sahib), Kaka Randeep Singh (Amloh), Gurkirat Singh Kotli
(Khanna), Amrik Singh Dhillon (Samrala) and senior Congress leader Advocate Harnek Singh Diwana were among those present at the
programme.
Amritsar Sitting MP Navjot Singh Sidhu visited Nagpur on Wednesday to campaign for former BJP president Nitin Gadkari even as the cricketer-turned-politician is yet to visit Amritsar after being denied the party ticket from the constituency.
Sources said Sidhu had a day off in the ongoing T-20 World Cup in Bangladesh and so, he flew to Nagpur to seek votes for Gadkari. His move has now fuelled speculations as to whether he would come to Amritsar to campaign for Arun Jaitley, who has replaced him as the BJP nominee here.
Members of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Lakhowal) and workers of the ruling SAD today jointly protested against the Moga police and blocked the Moga-Amritsar national highway for more than an hour. They alleged that the local officials of the police were trying to protect the "main culprits” involved in spurious milk racket.
Capt said Jaitley should "exercise restraint and not rake up sensitive issues like Operation Bluestar for petty political gains".