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M’rashtra Govt meddling in Sikh affairs: Makkar
Police re-open another case against Daduwal
Jakhar joins protesting sanitation workers
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Rama Mandi clash: SAD, Cong candidates to record statements
Industry hits out at govt
for changing power unit
Out to clean Moga, ex-DGP Gill stopped midway by sweepers
Mighty tractors catch farmers’ fancy
7 IAS, four PCS officers shifted
Ravinder Singh and Gurpreet Singh
Youth dies in clash at eatery in Jalandhar
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M’rashtra Govt meddling in Sikh affairs: Makkar
Amritsar/ Fatehgarh sahib, August 23 The SGPC executive committee today held a meeting in Fatehgarh Sahib. Makkar alleged that the Congress-led Maharashtra Government had always meddled in the religious affairs of the Sikhs. "Having representatives from different organisations in the Board ensures that the Sikh community stays connected across the country. But by reducing the representation of the SGPC and the Chief Khalsa Diwan, the Maharashtra Government has proved that it is anti-Sikh," he added. Regarding the ban on the release of Punjabi movie 'Kaum De Heere', he said the truth can neither be hidden nor suppressed. He said the ban on its release was unfortunate, particularly when it was cleared by the Censor Board. He said the film's release would expose the Congress' "excesses" against the Sikh community. About the decisions taken in the executive meet, Makkar said the Amritsar MC had failed to ensure proper cleanliness around the Golden Temple and therefore the SGPC would now make special arrangements to keep the vicinity of the holy shrine neat and clean. He said they would also be modernising Sri Guru Ram Das Niwas, while maintaining its original look. He said the SGPC had extended an aid of Rs 1 crore for the victims of Saharanpur violence. SGPC executive endorses reinstatement of auditor Meanwhile, in a significant development, the SGPC executive has endorsed Makkar's move to reinstate the SGPC's Internal Auditor, SS Kohli, who was dismissed through a resolution passed by the executive last month. Sources said the endorsement for the move was sought from the SGPC executive members after the SGPC employees were asked to leave the venue on the conclusion of the meeting. Following this, Makkar explained to them the circumstances under which he had to take the decision to reinstate him and subsequently the executive gave its approval for the same. Kohli's reinstatement within a day of his dismissal had sparked a row with various quarters raising a question mark over it. The matter has even reached the Sikh Gurdwara Judicial Commission with SAD (Panch Pardhani) leader Baldev He has sought the dismissal of Kohli who is reportedly close to Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal. In his petition, Sirsa has also sought the dismissal of SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar and SGPC secretary Dalmegh Singh for allegedly violating the norms. He said Kohli was sacked on July 16 following the orders of the SGPC executive, but he was reinstated within a day on Makkar's order. He contended that Makkar had no power to overturn the decision taken by the SGPC executive committee. CKD writes to M'rashtra CM The Chief Khalsa Diwan (CKD) has written a letter to the Maharashtra Chief Minister, seeking representation in Takht Sri Hazur Sahib Board. In the letter, CKD honorary secretary Narinder Singh Khurana said the Board earlier had three SGPC nominees and one CKD nominee. However, now while the SGPC has been given representation, the CKD has been denied the same. He has sought representation for the CKD in the Board. Jathedar backs controversial film Amritsar: Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh on Saturday said the Punjabi film, 'Kaum De Heere', "portrayed reality" and, therefore, it should not have been banned. Talking to mediapersons here, the Jathedar said the movie depicted the reality and it must be shown so that the "people's sacrifices are brought to light". He wondered as to why such restrictions were imposed only on the issues related to the Sikhs.
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Police re-open another case against Daduwal
Faridkot, August 23 A police team from Mansa today reached Faridkot to procure Daduwal’s transit remand in an attempt to murder case registered against him and his 11 supporters at Bhikhi on January 2, 2011. The case was registered following an alleged clash between Daduwal’s supporters and the police during his religious discourse. The police had apprehended a clash between radical Sikhs and Dera Sacha Sauda followers after Daduwal allegedly made some remarks against dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. Three days after the registration of an FIR, the Mansa police had released Daduwal and his supporters and dropped the charges against them, calling it a “pro-active measure and goodwill gesture to ensure peace”. However, the police today re-opened the case. But as the court of the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Faridkot, extended Daduwal’s remand for another day in the five-year-old case in which he was arrested yesterday, the Mansa police did not proceed further with their transit remand application. On March 16, 2009, the Bajakhana police in Faridkot had arrested Daduwal along with eight of his supporters for possessing nine fire weapons and 287 live cartridges. The case --- Daduwal and his supporters were booked for attempt to murder after an alleged clash with the police --- was re-opened yesterday. In this case too, the police had released Daduwal on March 25, 2009, saying “his custody was not required for the time being”. The police today produced seven more Daduwal’s supporters in the court, which remanded them in judicial custody. A large number of his supporters from Faridkot, Mansa and Bathinda and several HSGMC members from Haryana had gathered at the court complex in Faridkot today when Daduwal and his seven supporters were produced before the judicial magistrate. A heavy police force was deployed at the complex as the supporters raised slogans against the state government and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) for allegedly harassing Daduwal for him being the frontline HSGMC leader. It’s vendetta: Daduwal’s wife Sukhmeet Kaur, Daduwal’s wife, alleged that they were being harassed on flimsy grounds ever since her husband expressed solidarity with the HSGMC, much to the chagrin of the Punjab Government and the SGPC. She alleged that the police were unleashing vendetta by re-opening all old cases against her husband. Arrest witch-hunting: Dal Khalsa Hoshiarpur: The Dal Khalsa has alleged that the arrest of Daduwal was a case of witch-hunting by the government. Dal Khalsa head Harcharanjit Singh Dhami criticised the Chief Minister for allegedly resorting to vendetta tactics to fix their political adversaries. He alleged Daduwal had been targeted for his links with the HSGMC
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Jakhar joins protesting sanitation workers
Abohar, August 23 Addressing the workers, he slammed the state government for “backtracking” from its promises made to the employees. He said while the SAD-BJP government had been trying to sell the idea of “smart cities”, it had “failed” to ensure basic cleanliness of the cities. “Most of the urban localities are dotted with open garbage dumps, but no effort is being made to deal with the matter,” he said. Jakhar said the number of sanitation workers in Abohar had gone down from 300 to 165 whereas the population had crossed 1.75 lakh.
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Rama Mandi clash: SAD, Cong candidates to record statements
Bathinda, August 23 The police are yet to register a case as both the parties have been blaming each other for the clash. The police said they had received complaints from both Congress candidate Harmohinder Singh Jassi and SAD candidate Jeet Mohinder Singh
Sidhu. Sources said several vehicles were damaged and gunshots were fired in the clash that took place at a booth in ward No. 4 of Rama
Mandi. Jassi has claimed that none of his gunmen had fired gunshots. He has alleged in his complaint that when he
(Jassi) was coming out of the booth, Sidhu ordered his "goons" to fire at him. "My gunmen acted swiftly and saved me," he said. Sidhu could not be
contacted. Sawarn Singh Khanna, Superintendent of Police (Detective), said: "Both candidates will be called for questioning at different time tomorrow. We will record their statements. After holding a probe and hearing both parties, we will register a case." 2-member SIT formed The Bathinda police have constituted a two-member special investigation Team (SIT), comprising Gurmeet Singh
Kingra, DSP, and Gurvinder Singh, SHO, to speed up the investigation in the clash at Rama
Mandi. The police had found three empty bullet casings from the spot. Gurpreet Singh
Bhullar, Senior Superintendent of Police, Bathinda, they had gathered evidence to identify the culprits, but would proceed against them after a thorough probe.
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Industry hits out at govt
for changing power unit
Chandigarh, August 23 The Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC), which announced the revised power tariff for this financial year yesterday, had also announced to calculate power consumed by the above mentioned category of consumers in terms of KVAh, rather than KWh. Though the decision to shift to the new method of calculating power consumption, based on how efficiently power is used by a consumer or the power factor of the consumer, is being hailed, consumers are unhappy that it had been done retrospectively. This means that they will have to continue to pay higher power tariff for the first five months of this fiscal, since the decision had been announced now. The worst-hit consumers are the industrial consumers, especially those running high power consuming industry or power intensive units (PIUs). Mahinder Pal Gupta, president, Furnace Association, Mandi Gobindgarh, rued that not only was the industry made to pay the tariff in KVAh retrospectively, but no relief had been provided to them. While the general category large industry has been given a relief of 19 paise per unit (tariff has been reduced from Rs 6.33 to Rs 6.14 per unit), step-motherly treatment was being meted out to steel arc furnaces and other power intensive units, he alleged. Already, 45 steel units in Mandi Gobindgarh have closed down after being rendered unviable and now only 65 units are operational. Amarjit Goyal, chairman of Modern Steels and Steel Furnace Association, Punjab, said the KVAh system should have been imposed with prospective effect and industry should have been given time of at least three months to switch over to the new system by installing capacitors or inductors at their units to keep the power factor as 0.99. “However, other initiatives like ‘Time of Day’ tariff for large supply and medium supply industrial consumers and rationalisation of late payment surcharge are industry-friendly,” he said. DL Sharma, director of Vardhman Textiles and former CII chairman, also agreed that the switch-over from KWh to KVAh should have been done prospectively as many industrial units had not installed capacitors to keep their power factor high. Industry sources said that in case of large and medium industry, where the power factor was 0.94 or 0.95 (if the factor is less than 0.90, they have to pay penalty charges), they would lose Rs 20 lakh to Rs 25 lakh per month. In case these units had installed capacitors, their monthly tariff for the already past five months of this fiscal (April-August) would have been less by Rs 20-25
lakh.
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Out to clean Moga, ex-DGP Gill stopped midway by sweepers
Moga, August 23 The sweepers are on strike for the past three weeks to press for their demands. The former top cop, who has established ‘Mera Sohna Moga’, an NGO, to keep the city clean, summoned his supporters and took the brooms in their hands to clean the main roads. But the local body sweepers not only stopped them but also confronted them with heated exchange of words. The sweepers said they would not allow anybody to clean the city roads and streets till their demands were not met by the state government. However, no untoward incident was reported between the two groups. Gill assured the protesters he would raise their demands with the government. — TNS
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Mighty tractors catch farmers’ fancy
Bathinda, August 23 Talking to The Tribune after the launch of company's new tractor Arjun Novo in Chennai on Wednesday, he said Punjab farmers were buying additional tractors while some were replacing the old ones, he said. Quoting figures from the recent Francis Kanoi Syndicated Market Research, Jejurikar said 80 per cent of the tractor purchasers in Punjab were those seeking powerful engines. The requirement holds weight in the context of highly reduced manpower availability. Job security under MGNREGA schemes had led to a massive reduction in the availability of farm labour, he said. Jejurikar said the tractors that went out of use in Punjab were being purchased by small farmers in other states. Orissa with 92 per cent topped the list of first-time buyers, followed by Bihar and Jharkhand with 89 per cent each. While Punjab topped the national figures in the category of replacement and additional purchases, Karnataka and Haryana followed with 75 per cent and 68 per cent. The national percentage of repeat buyers is 51 per cent. Jejurikar was said farmers were demanding powerful engines for better ploughing of their farms. The engines were also being effectively used in related activities of plantation and harvesting with super specialised machinery. Feedback from the ground revealed Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka were showing demand for stronger machines.
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Govt to sack 1,200 truant teachers
Jalandhar, August 23 Official sources said more than 1,200 teachers had taken a long leave and settled in foreign countries. The state already has more than 27,000 vacancies of teachers in various grades. Talking to the media while visiting the newly opened meritorious school in Jalandhar, Dr Daljit Singh Cheema, Education Minister, said: "The state is facing a huge shortage of teachers. Besides a huge chunk of them have gone on long leave without intimation and have not even responded to the notice served on them. We have now decided to take a stern action against them," he said. He said if these teachers wanted joined back now, they would be subjected to an inquiry. "If the probe found that they had a genuine reason to remain on leave, we might allow them to join the duty," he added. According to the education policy, regular teachers who get a hefty salary package are eligible for leave without pay for up to six months. They are entitled to extend their leave citing various reasons, including poor health. While around 30,000 posts are lying vacant from the past few years, around 1,200 regular teachers have been absent for long without any intimation.
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7 IAS, four PCS officers shifted
Chandigarh, August 23 Ajoy Sharma has been posted Special Principal Secretary to the CM while Vipul Ujwal has been made the Commissioner, MC, Moga. Shena Aggarwal would be SDM, Raikot; Sangam Aggarwal SDM, Khanna; Vineet Kumar SDM, Dera Baba Nanak; Keshav Hingoma SDM, Phagwara, and Surabhi Malik SDM, Nangal. Among the PCS officers, Jagwinderjit Singh Grewal has been posted DTO, Gurdaspur, in addition to SDM, Batala. Rahul Chaba has been made ADC (General), Muktsar; Rakesh Kumar Popli, Estate officer, Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority, Ludhiana and Rajat Oberoi SDM, Mukerian. Road repair plan
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today asked Major General MS Pillai (Retd), adviser (Roads) to the state government, to prepare a master-plan for periodic maintenance of the total roads measuring 60,676 km in Punjab. Badal took this decision at a meeting with the Chief Engineers of the Public Works Department, NHAI, Punjab Mandi Board and BRO.
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2 Jalandhar boys feared drowned in Italy
Jalandhar, August 23 The duo was among the 150 passengers aboard the boat. Though the incident occurred on the night of August 14/15, the victims’ families came to know about it yesterday. The relatives of a fellow passenger informed them. Karnail Singh, Gurpreet’s father, said, “We received a call from Dalbir Kaur of Moga, who said her husband Cheter Singh too was on the boat along with the boys.” Though Cheter was rescued by the by the Italian army, the fate of the boys was still not known. Jagdish Singh, Ravi’s father, said he had received a call from his son a day before the incident that he was leaving for Italy, and that he would not be able to call up home for the next 12 days. “He was very upset for the last four months as he had not been able to earn money due to tension in Libya. A day before the incident, he informed us that he along with many other Punjabi boys was boarding a ship for Italy. I haven’t heard from him ever since,” said Jagdish. The families also informed that though their travel agent had promised them a visa for Dubai, he could only send them to strife-torn Libya after charging them Rs 1.5 lakh each.
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Youth dies in clash at eatery in Jalandhar
Phagwara, August 23 The Sadar Police have registered a case against Vinay, Kaka and Sumit, residents of Jalandhar, Balla and Rohit of Amritsar. The police said the trouble started when ten youths of Jalandhar, who had gone to Haweli to celebrate their friend Sahil Puri’s birthday, got annoyed at the rowdiness of five youths sitting nearby. After a heated argument, Rohit Sharma alias Raju of Amritsar stabbed Paras of Dayal Nagar Jalandhar. When Rohit Sabharwal came to his rescue, the assailants stabbed him. He died on the way to the hospital. Raju also got injured in the fight. Aman Kumar, SHO, Sadar, Phagwara, said the body had been handed over to the family after a postmortem.
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Former DGP Paramdip Singh Gill, who unsuccessfully contested the last Assembly elections on the SAD-BJP ticket, faced the ire of sweepers of the municipal corporation when he and his supporters took the brooms in their hands to clean the city here today.
The sweepers are on strike for the past three weeks to press for their demands. The former top cop, who has established ‘Mera Sohna Moga’, an NGO, to keep the city clean, summoned his supporters and took the brooms in their hands to clean the main roads.
Bathinda, August 23
