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British Columbia to assist state in skill development
124 houses of Sikhs damaged in J&K floods, says SGPC
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Medico slits wrist near minister Joshi’s house
EC blow to liquor vends near Haryana border
Gun house theft: Cops relying on forensic experts
Govt notifies advisory panels
Jamalpur ‘justice panel’ to revive agitation, meeting on Oct 19
Zonal youth fest begins at Mata Gujari College
Policy to allow industrial plots for commercial use on anvil
Rift to the fore in BJP’s Batala unit
Doc suspended for ‘shooing away’ patient
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British Columbia to assist state in skill development
Chandigarh, October 11 The decision was taken during a meeting between British Columbia Premier Christy Clark and Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal here today. During the meeting, Clark said Punjabis shared cordial ties with Canada, besides contributing enormously in its overall development and prosperity. She asked her state’s Minister of Advanced Education Amrik Virk, who accompanied her in the meeting, to tie up with Education Minister Daljeet Singh Cheema to work out modalities for teacher and student exchange programmes during summer vacations. She also asked her minister for initiating a faculty exchange programme under which the staff from British Columbia University would visit Punjab universities, especially in the fields of pharmacology, generic medicines and bio-energy. Responding positively to the proposals put forth by Badal to collaborate in the area of food technology, processing and cold chain, dairying and milk processing, the Premier apprised him that they had a trade centre at Chandigarh where the state government could submit these proposals for their active consideration and follow-up. She evinced interest in the exchange of cultural troupes of eminent musicians and folk singers from Punjab to participate in the annual Vancouver Punjabi Mela. The Chief Minister emphasised the need to put a mechanism in place to follow up these decisions to ensure their prompt implementation. He suggested that a high-level group headed by the state Chief Secretary be constituted to take these and any other issue forward. He also impressed upon the Premier to set up their ventures in the upcoming Medi City and Edu City at New Chandigarh. Badal also sought her intervention and cooperation for relaxing visa norms, especially for skilled and technical persons, to further strengthen ties between Punjab and British Columbia on one hand and boost economic development of the Canadian state through skilled manpower on the other. He also demanded mutual recognition of educational qualifications and skill certification between Punjab and British Columbia. He impressed upon the Premier for setting up skill development centres in Punjab to cater to their mutual needs. Clark also called on Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and offered to be partner with Punjab in business and commerce activities, besides sharing latest techno expertise in agro and energy fields.
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124 houses of Sikhs damaged in J&K floods, says SGPC
Amritsar, October 11
He said they would soon take a decision about their rehabilitation. He, however, said they were yet to work out the details about the aid to be extended to the Sikh families there. "We will see how best we can help them in the hour of crisis," he said. The SGPC had set up yet another sub-committee to chalk out the plan to carry forward the relief operations and carry out rehabilitation work, but it was yet to submit its report, he said. The panel is likely to hold a meeting soon and submit its report. The SGPC has collected elaborate data about the losses caused to the Sikhs residing in the Kashmir Valley. These families were asked to fill up a form with all their details, including business and residential property. These forms were distributed to the Sikhs living in different areas of Srinagar. As per the data collected by the SGPC panel, around 124 houses belonging to the Sikhs were damaged in floods, out of which 50 per cent were completely destroyed while the rest suffered partial damage. Similarly, they have collected details about their business losses. The SGPC intends to extend aid only to the Sikh community living in Kashmir. Earlier, it had carried out relief operations and extended a helping hand to all the people cutting across caste, creed and religion. The relief operations by the SGPC are still underway. The SGPC had sent 800 tonnes of ration to flood-affected areas, besides sending its medical team to provide necessary aid to the people. It is still running 'langar' facility at Gurdwara Shaheed Ganj,
Budgam. The findings
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Medico slits wrist near minister Joshi’s house
Amritsar, October 11 The student, Harsukhdeep Singh of Nawanshahr, was rushed to nearby Guru Nanak Dev Hospital by his friends where his condition was stated to be stable. He was being operated upon when the report was filed. A suicide note was found from his pocket in which he urged the state government to pay heed to their demand and shift his agitating friends to some recognised college. Three girls also fainted during the protest. Perturbed over the poor response from the government, the students today shifted their protest from outside government medical college here to the road leading to the Minister’s residence in Medical Enclave around 6 pm. They raised slogans against Joshi and the government. A heavy police posse was deployed in the area. The girls who fainted were taken to a private clinic from where one of them was shifted to a hospital. “We are under tremendous stress and pressure. We worked hard for getting admission in the college and now we are sitting on road for justice and our future,” said a student. A Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) reached the spot and tried to convince the students to lift the dharna. But the protesters said they would stay put till the government shifted them to a recognised college. The SDM offered to fix an appointment of five students with Joshi. The protesters refused, asking the Minister to come over to meet them. The Medical Council of India had de-recognised the Pathankot college due to lack of infrastructure and staff. The students have been protesting since September 27. Their repeated requests to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Joshi and other departments have failed to yield any result.
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EC blow to liquor vends near Haryana border
Patiala, October 11 Vends in districts bordering Haryana such as Patiala and Sangrur would be affected. “We have ordered the closure of vends from October 13 evening till October 15 evening which are situated within 3 km of the Haryana border,” said a senior excise official. “These vends will also remain closed on October 19 in view of counting of votes,” he stated. “We have formed special teams to conduct raids on these dry days,” said Patiala Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner LS Jakhar. In another development, a number of wedding functions scheduled to be held during these days in Haryana have been shifted to Punjab and Chandigarh. Jaskiran Singh of Sangrur said, “We have postponed our nephew’s wedding that was scheduled to be held in Ambala on October 19.”
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Gun house theft: Cops relying on forensic experts
Faridkot, October 11 The police are now pinning hopes on forensic experts who are trying to recover data from a partially burnt hard disk of CCTV cameras installed at the gun house. The culprits had set the gun house on fire after stealing the weapons to destroy evidence. Sources said the hard disk was in the custody of a team of cyber crime police station-cum-forensic science laboratory in Mohali. The police are also taking the help of some tech-savvy young IPS officers. The sources said a similar theft took place about five years ago. While some of the accused in the case were in jail, others were out on bail. The police were keeping a track on the movement of all those persons, the sources said. Mohnish Chawla, DIG, Ferozepur range, who is supervising the investigations, said they had zeroed in on some gangsters active in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. He said the culprits broke into the gun house through the roof of an adjoining pipe store. It was evident the persons involved knew that the roof of the pipe store was dilapidated. They had thus questioned some workers of the store, he added.
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Chandigarh, October 11 The committee would have 10 MLAs as non-official members and administrative secretaries concerned as official members. The spokesperson said Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal would be chairing the advisory committee of the departments of home, governance reforms, housing and urban development, excise and taxation, investment promotion, sports and youth affairs and power. The committee would have 10 MLAs, five from the Akali Dal, three from the Congress, one from the BJP and one independent, as non-official members and administrative secretary concerned as official members.— TNS
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Jamalpur ‘justice panel’ to revive agitation, meeting on Oct 19
Ludhiana, October 11 The meeting of the “Justice Committee” has been called to revive the agitation for pressing the government to act tough on the Akali leader and the police party involved in the killings. The panel comprises members of various political parties. Mann and Jodhan said Punjab Congress spokesman Sukhpal Khaira, several CPI-CPM leaders, including Charan Singh Virdi and Bant Singh Brar, People’s Party of Punjab leader Jasvir Singh and BJP veteran Laxmi Kanta Chawla had agreed to attend the meeting. Besides, activists of several social organisations would be there, said Mann. The committee members had vent their ire against the “jathedari culture” of the SAD-BJP government during the bhog ceremony of the brothers at Bhaopur village on October 7. A delegation led by Mann and Jodhan also visited the Police Commissioner’s office to get an update on the investigation being conducted in the case. Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police PS Pannu could not divulge the status of the investigation and told the delegation members that a special team of senior police officers was probing into the case, said Mann. ‘Murders planned 7 days in advance’
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Zonal youth fest begins at Mata Gujari College
Fatehgarh Sahib, October 11 Dhillon said team spirit could also be inculcated among the youth through such cultural activities. Dr Satish Verma, Director, Youth Welfare Department, Punjabi University, Patiala, said, “Our aim is to inculcate teamwork among students.” — TNS
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Policy to allow industrial plots for commercial use on anvil
Chandigarh, October 11 The government will charge a conversion fee to convert an industrial plot into a commercial one, once the new policy gets the nod from Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. Discussions between government officials and members of various industry associations in this regard have already started. A meeting between a delegation of industrialists and Principal Secretary to Chief Minister SK Sandhu was held here on Friday to discuss the features of the new policy after amending the current policy, which allows only industrial use of plots in industrial focal points. Industrialists said they had urged Sandhu to bring out the new policy as soon as possible. They said with industrial units shutting down in several parts of the state and little hope of revival of manufacturing, the new policy could prove to be very fruitful. It was a win-win situation for the government and those who have been allotted these industrial plots, many of which are lying vacant, they said. Sources said industrialists had also urged the government to categorise all plots into different categories. They said retail and office spaces should be treated as one category and can be charged a higher rate of conversion while hotels, hospitals and restaurants should be treated as a different category. The industry has also asked the government not to keep any restriction on the height to which a building can be built once they opt for conversion. BJP promises aid to industrialists Fatehgarh Sahib: Tikshan Sud, political adviser to the Chief Minister, and BJP state secretary Subhash Sharma on Saturday promised to help the protesting industrialists of Mandi Gobindgarh. Sharma said they had discussed the issue with Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal over the phone. He said state BJP president Kamal Sharma along with Sukhbir had asked them to resolve the issue. Sharma said they would meet Excise and Taxation Commissioner Anurag Verma on October 14 to resolve the industrialists’ problems. He said during their interaction with the industrialists, they found that the industrialists were being harassed by the Excise and Taxation officials. He said the officials were creating hurdles for their business on the pretext of recovering tax. Sharma said the government needed to withdraw free electricity being provided to big farmers in order to revive the industry.
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Rift to the fore in BJP’s Batala unit
Batala, October 11 The party held a protest against dysfunctional streetlights in some parts of the city yesterday. Factionalism surfaced when eight former BJP councillors failed to turn up. These included former district BJP president Naresh Mahajan and former state BJP youth wing president Vivek Modgil. Both Mahajan and Modgil had raised a banner of revolt against the MC for neglecting them during discussions on delimitation of the wards. But by not participating in the protest they apparently supported the MC. District BJP president Suresh Bhatia termed their absence as "their personal matter." He alleged 50 per cent of the streetlights in the town were non-functional. He blamed the MC authorities for remaining absent from their offices, leading to inconvenience to the public. Bhatia alleged the MC had got more than Rs 5 crore for the town's development in the last two years, but the money was "misused" by its officials. Manmohan Singh Randhawa, Executive Officer, MC, refuted the allegations, saying that Bhatia had got his facts wrong. "Only a negligible number of streetlights are not functioning due to some technical fault. These too will be rectified soon," he said. Anil Kumar, who holds the contract for maintaining streetlights and sanitation, lashed out at Bhatia by claiming that the streetlights were in a working condition.
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Doc suspended for ‘shooing away’ patient
Tarn Taran, October 11 The department has also served a show cause notice to Dr Shamsher Singh, Senior Medical Officer. Dr Varindra Singh, Civil Surgeon, said the woman, Jasbir Kaur (30) of Vain Poin village, had gone to the Khadur Sahib health centre yesterday from where she was referred to the Civil Hospital. Dr Harpoonam Manku reportedly refused to admit her saying that she was already overburdened, the official said. When the woman’s relatives contacted the Senior Medical Officer, who was on leave, he allegedly refused to give them a hearing. The woman then delivered a female child outside the hospital premises. The Civil Surgeon said the patient was anemic and it was a lapse on the part of the medical officer on duty and the Senior Medical Officer. Health Minister Surjit Kumar Jyani today issued the orders against both the medical officers. An investigation is on into the case, it has been learnt.
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Chandigarh, October 11
Amritsar, October 11
Faridkot, October 11
I don't have power to shift the students to some other college… A meeting of the students and their parents with the Principal Secretary (Medical Education) will be held on Monday. Necessary action will be taken after
that