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Joshi has amassed illegal wealth, says SAD
Tussle among allies has hit governance: Bajwa
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KCF head Panjwar smuggling drugs into state, court told
Infighting to fore, Akali group boycotts meeting
Congress launches ‘Save Punjab’ drive against drugs
Clean-up drive has failed: Jakhar
children’s day special
Come Jan, pension to come in your a/c
Nawanshahr to get its first biomass power plant soon
2,600 citizen service centres on cards: Dy CM
Row over bus passes
Mann announces grant for Sangrur college
Chhattisgarh deaths
Looking for her roots, Nikki Haley lands in Amritsar today
NRIs feel alienated: British MP
Govt against tax on NRI remittances fee
Curb campus violence with heavy hand: HC
HC notice to two policemen for ‘handcuffing’ former official
Paralympics medallist seeks cash reward, moves court
Rs 8 cr paddy scams detected
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Joshi has amassed illegal wealth, says SAD
Amritsar, November 13
The tussle between the two parties, which started over the Bhagtanwala dump yard row, moved to the next level with both sides openly targeting each other on different issues. It was SAD's Amritsar unit chief Upkar Singh Sandhu who fired a fresh salvo against Joshi by accusing him of amassing wealth through unfair means. He sought Joshi's resignation and a Vigilance probe against him. Addressing a press conference this afternoon, Sandhu, along with Deputy Mayor Avtar Singh, asked Joshi to put in his papers. He hit out at the minister, saying, "The assets of Joshi and his relatives have increased manifold during the past seven years. Instead of public service, he has been running the Local Bodies Department as a private company for the benefit of his family." He alleged Joshi's son was using a vehicle belonging to the Improvement Trust, while his nephew's petrol pump supplied fuel to MC vehicles. He alleged the pavement tiles being used in the city came from a factory owned by Joshi's close relatives. He also accused the minister of patronising advertising mafia and alleged his close associates were running illegal advertisement business in the city. "While Rs 100 crore was spent on the development of his Amritsar North Assembly constituency, all other constituencies were neglected," he said. He also accused Joshi of diverting Improvement Trust funds for development of his native Sangah village in Tarn Taran district. He claimed a large number of Joshi's relatives and associates from Tarn Taran had shifted base to Amritsar and reaped benefits from the Improvement Trust and the municipal corporation. BJP's Amritsar unit chief Naresh Sharma accused the Akali Dal of patronising sand, land, liquor and cable mafia in the state. He termed the allegations levelled against Joshi as totally baseless. He wondered why the SAD was resorting to politics of personal allegations and diverting people's attention from the burning issues facing the state. "Drug addiction is rampant among the youth in Punjab and everyone knows who is patronising those behind the drug trade," he added. He said they were ready for a Vigilance probe against Joshi. He challenged the SAD to prove any charge of corruption against him. He also asked the SAD whether they were ready for a CBI probe to identify those running sand, land, liquor and cable mafia in the state. Valtoha tells CPS Sidhu to resign Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS) Virsa Singh Valtoha on Thursday said Amritsar (East) MLA Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu should resign as the CPS if she had any problem. But she should not try to harm the SAD-BJP coalition to further the personal ambitions of her family, he said. Asking Dr Sidhu "not to live in a fool's paradise", Valtoha said the CPS was free to day dream about the future role of her husband in Punjab politics for her personal gains. "If she is so dissatisfied, she should move out of the government before urging the BJP to walk out of the coalition government,” Valtoha said. He said Dr Sidhu was "prone to erratic, and sometimes even bizarre, behaviour that defied logic". ABVP convention A three-day national convention of the BJP's student wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) focusing on drug addiction in Punjab will begin in Amritsar on Friday. The convention will be inaugurated by 1971 war hero Brig KS Chandpuri (retd), while Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani will be the chief guest on the concluding day.
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Tussle among allies has hit governance: Bajwa
Hoshiarpur, November 13 This was stated by Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Partap Singh Bajwa while addressing party workers at Dasuya today. He said both ruling alliance partners were walking together, but with a motive to mar each other. He said SAD's decision to support the INLD in Haryana was a clear indication that there was nothing common between the two parties and that they were working together just to serve their political interests.
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KCF head Panjwar smuggling drugs into state, court told
Chandigarh, November 13 A remorseful and somewhat angry Rattandeep confessed before the Magistrate that he had taken training in Pakistan and was sent by Panjwar to execute the bomb blast in Sector 34 on July 3, 1999. “I have been manipulated. We, who executed the operations, are suffering, while our bosses are minting money. Panjwar has been smuggling a large amount of heroin and smack into Punjab. If Punjab is crippled with the drug menace today, it is because of Panjwar,” he said. “Jasbir Singh (another co-accused, who was arrested on November 9) had given me Rs 1 lakh to execute the blast in Sector 34,” he said. The UT police had brought Rattandeep to Chandigarh on November 5, nearly 15 years after the blast. Rattandeep was first arrested by the Punjab Police on September 18. The Chandigarh Police had identified him on July 5, 1999 with the help of the scooter that he had used to plant the bomb. Rattandeep had escaped from the custody of the UT police in Jind on July 3, 1999. However, two others accused in the case, Sher Singh and Gurbakash Singh, were later arrested. While Sher Singh and Gurbaksh Singh were jailed for 10 years, Rattandeep was declared a Proclaimed Offender (PO). He had planted the explosive RDX in the storage compartment of the Bajaj Chetak that was resold seven times. The blast
Who is Panjwar?
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Infighting to fore, Akali group boycotts meeting
Moga, November 13 Fourteen of the 20 elected members of the samiti walked out of the meeting when BDPO-cum-Secretary of the Block Samiti Kirpal Singh presented the agenda. Chairperson Hardip Kaur Himmatpura and local MLA Rajwinder Kaur, who is also a non-official member of the samiti, were also present in the meeting. Vice-Chairman of the samiti Gurbax Singh Bode, who led the boycott, alleged that Rajwinder Kaur was trying to run the elected body in an autocratic way showing no respect for democracy. That was not acceptable to them, he said. He said at least six meetings of the samiti needed to be held every year, but this was just the third meeting over the past 10 months. The last meeting was held on January 17. The elected members of the samiti were not given any information about its functioning during the intervening period, he alleged. "We want to make suggestions on development works, but no one is willing to listen to us," Bode alleged. Harpreet Singh Bhagike, Ajaib Singh Rania, Baljinder Kaur, Gurmeet Kaur, Jaspal Singh Dhurkot and other members said they were not satisfied with the Chairperson's functioning who had become a puppet in the hands of the local legislator.
The grouse We (members of the Nihalsinghwala Block Samiti) want to make suggestions about development projects, but no one is willing to listen to
us. Gurbax Singh Bode, Block Samiti vice-chairman
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Congress launches ‘Save Punjab’ drive against drugs
Amritsar, November 13 Talking to mediapersons during the launch ceremony organised by Congress leader Sukhjinder Singh Lalli Majithia, AICC secretary Harish Chaudhary and PPCC vice-president Amar Singh said they had selected five constituencies, Majitha, Chabewal, Sanaur, Qadian and Ludhiana (West), for the campaign. Under the drive, the Congress has prepared 900 volunteers in Majitha. “They will collect socio-demographic information from all the households on a seven-page questionnaire. For instance, they would identify the type of drug addiction that was more prevalent, the age group of the addicts, reasons behind their addiction and the financial status of their families. All this would help us to zero in on the causes of the drug addiction, following which we will work on them so as to come out with a plan to deal with it,” said Sukhjinder. The leaders said they were targeting 50 lakh households in the state under the drive, which would also create awareness against other social evils. They said a recent survey had revealed that 58.7 per cent of the people in Punjab were concerned over the rising drug addiction. They said the security of women was also a major cause for concern in the state where “the law and order is deteriorating”. Sukhjinder said they would not only persuade the drug addicts to go for de-addiction but would also prepare their families to deal with it so that they did not tread the same path again in their lives.
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Clean-up drive has failed: Jakhar
Abohar, November 13 Jakhar said the Centre in its letter on September 24 had directed all the states that potholes of all the roads were to be repaired within 30 days. But the CM didn’t release Rs 2 crore for the repair of potholes, he added. — OC
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children’s day special
Jalandhar, November 13 As per the 2011 Census, there were 90,353 child labourers in the state. Experts say the number might have touched the 1-lakh mark by now. However, the number of child labourers who are being rehabilitated or admitted to schools in the state every year since 2001 is just 5,350. Many of these students give up studies in between and hence the number of rescued child labourers actually joining the mainstream is very low.
Not a single child labourer was rescued during the ongoing child labour week raids by the Labour Department across various districts. Only one Centre-sponsored programme is being run in the state for educational rehabilitation of child labourers under the National Child Labour Project (NCLP). That effort is also visible in just three districts — Jalandhar, Amritsar and Ludhiana. Just 107 schools (27 in Jalandhar, 40 each in Ludhiana and Amritsar) are catering to thousands of labourers in the state. Two residential schools are also functional in Nawanshahr and Mohali . As per the HC directions, it is essential for the district task force to bring rescued child labourers into the mainstream. However, the Child Welfare Committees in districts responsible for carrying out the task are not doing their job. In response to an RTI query by NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan, none of the districts could furnish data about rescued child labourers admitted to schools from January 1, 2012, to May 30, 2014. Labour Commissioner Harbhupinder Singh Nanda, said, "There has been a talk of increasing the number of such schools in the state. As far as conducting raids and rehabilitating child labourers is concerned, the department is just one part of the task force, which also has officials from the education, medical and police departments. The DC is the head of the district task force and it's his duty to see why any member of the task force hasn't turned up." Children of a lesser God
NGO in task force The Labour Department may include the Bachpan Bachao Andolan, an NGO founded by Nobel Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi, as part of the district task force responsible for conducting child labour inspections and rescue operations
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Come Jan, pension to come in your a/c
Chandigarh, November 13 The Punjab Government has tied up with various banks operating in the state for rolling out the scheme. The aim is to do away with intermediaries. The move has come as there have been numerous complaints of mismanagement and bungling of social security pensions, currently disbursed by panchayats. The online transfer will also ensure speedy disbursal of pension. Many cases of pensions being given to fake beneficiaries have been reported. While banks are now actively opening accounts under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), the government has given them a month to get their system in place for the online transfer. The banks have already opened 28.12 lakh new accounts under the PMJDY. The process is on to link these accounts with the Aadhar number of beneficiaries. Each year, the government disburses Rs 600 crore as social security pension in various categories, including old age, widow, differently abled and dependants of central and state government employees. Discussions on the successful rollout of this scheme were held during a meeting of the State-level Bank Committee for Punjab with state government officials here today. Jaspal Singh, Secretary (Expenditure), Punjab, told the bankers that the government wanted to start the scheme from January 1. He asked them to link the bank accounts with the Aadhar card numbers of the account holders to ensure that there was no duplicity in accounts. Senior bankers said they proposed to open accounts for all families in the state by November 20. About 53 per cent of the accounts had been linked to Aadhar, they said. Social security plans
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Nawanshahr to get its first biomass power plant soon
Jalandhar, November 13 Deputy Commissioner Anindita Mitra said of the energy generated by the plant, 4 MW would be consumed by the mill and 11 MW would be consumed by the state. She said Saraya Industries was setting up the plant. The power plant would generate power from the crushed sugar cane during the season and paddy and wheat straw in the off season. — TNS
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2,600 citizen service centres on cards: Dy CM
Fazilka, November 13 Sukhbir was here to inaugurate a state-of-the-art girls school set up at a cost of Rs 14.69 crore in his home constituency Jalalabad in Fazilka district. He said the centres would provide more than 225 citizen-centric services related to various departments in a hassle-free manner. Among the services are preparing BPL cards, driving licences, birth and death certificates, police verification and attestation of documents. He said the Chief Secretary would supervise the setting up of these centres. The Punjab Cabinet recently approved 1,750 rural and 424 urban cyber service centres under its “minimum government maximum governance” plan. Sukhbir tried to evade the media on core issues at the residence of SAD district president Ashok Aneja in Jalalabad. He even skipped the press conference scheduled to be held at the newly constructed Government Girls Senior Secondary School. The Deputy Chief Minister appeared perturbed when questioned about BJP state president Kamal Sharma’s statement against attending luncheon and dinner meetings hosted by SAD districts presidents and Chief Parliamentary Secretary Navjot Kaur Sidhu’s remarks that the BJP should walk out of the alliance. He said “there was no need to comment on Sidhu or anybody else”. He reiterated that the SAD-BJP alliance was geared up for the civic body elections. He reviewed the construction work of the Civil Hospital and nursing school in Jalalabad. He directed the officials to complete the hospital construction by July. Sukhbir laid the foundation stone of development projects worth Rs 90 crore in his two-day tour of his constituency.
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Row over bus passes
Sangrur, November 13 The protesters demanded that cases against them be cancelled and that two arrested students be released. They alleged transporters paid no heed to government’s instructions that bus pass holders be allowed to travel on private buses. — TNS
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Mann announces grant for Sangrur college
Sangrur, November 13 Girl students demanded that a few policemen should be deployed at the main gate of the college on all working days. They complained that outsiders would harass them on campus. Mann said he would take up the matter with the police. Mann later announced a grant for the purchase of 10 computers for college library. — TNS
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Chhattisgarh deaths
Chandigarh, November 13 The move comes in the wake of the death of 13 women during sterilisation camps in Chhattisgarh. Though Punjab has long back left the practice of organising special sterilisation camps, the Health Department held an urgent meeting of the Civil Surgeons of all districts today. Dr Karanjit Singh, Director, Health, said about 20 teams of health experts would be checking the surgical tools and the operation theatres. "We conduct sterilisation operations only in hospitals. We have already declined holding camps, especially in make-shift arrangements," he said.
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Looking for her roots, Nikki Haley lands in Amritsar today
Amritsar, November 13 The district administration has made all the arrangements for Haley’s daylong tour. She will be the state guest. She is scheduled to land in the city on Friday evening and will start her visit by paying obeisance at the Golden Temple on Saturday morning. “She will also be addressing the media at the holy shrine where she will brief them about her agenda for the visit,” said the authorities. She will also pay homage to the martyrs at the Jallianwalan Bagh and later address a seminar at Guru Nanak Dev University where she will also interact with students and faculty. She may also explore the possibility of academic collaboration between the university and those in South Carolina. Haley, elected Governor for the second consecutive term, has her family roots at a village near Tarn Taran. Her father Ajit Singh Randhawa use to live at Verka in Amritsar before he migrated to the US in the early sixties. She had expressed her wish to meet her family and relatives in the city and the authorities are busy facilitating the meet. “We have traced some of her distant family members or close aides. Most of her relatives and immediate family have moved out of the city. One of her ancestral house was in Verka, where her brother lived, but they too have moved out of Amritsar,” said officials. Haley has spared one day for Amritsar, but her Punjab visit would be important to work out possible collaborations in the fields of employment, commerce, tourism and education. Majha connection
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NRIs feel alienated: British MP
Jalandhar, November 13 He alleged the NRIs were insecure about their life and property in Punjab. Talking to the media here, Sharma said the state government had “failed” to get property matters of NRIs resolved. “There is a dire need for the government to reconnect its lost association with the NRIs to strengthen the state’s economy. The government has to make sincere efforts to win back their trust,” he said. He said most of the investment from the UK was going to Kerala and Tamil Naidu which had investor friendly policies. Slamming the government’s decision to call off the NRI sammelan, he said he felt disappointed as instead of revamping the event, the government had broken the connection. Calling the word “Sangat Darshan” as derogatory, he said such a phrase should not be used in a democratic setup like India. Sharma said the Indian diaspora in Britain was ready to extend their support for setting up primary healthcare network, eliminating child labour and to provide skill training to the youth, provided they got support from the Indian
Government.
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Curb campus violence with heavy hand: HC
Chandigarh, November 13 The ruling by the Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Shekher Dhawan came on an appeal filed by a student of Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana. He had challenged order dated October 13 passed by a Single Judge, whereby his writ petition against his rustication from the university was dismissed. The action followed a clash on the campus in May this year in which grievous injuries were suffered by both the sides. The fact-finding report stated that the appellant was a member of one of the rival groups. The university authorities took a serious note of the fight between the groups armed with batons and logs; and the Director, Student’s Welfare-cum-Inquiry Officer, punished the appellant along with other students involved in the incident with rustication from the university for two semesters. They were also expelled from the hostel for the rest of their stay and fined Rs 5,000 each. After the Single Judge dismissed the petition challenging the punishment, the student contended that the fact he was not an “aggressor” was not considered. He was “forced to be a member of the group” and “could not be equated with the students who are found to be aggressors”. Dismissing the appeal, the Division Bench asserted: “We have considered the submission very carefully but are unable to agree with the same for the reasons that such incident of grossest indiscipline cannot be tolerated in an educational institution which is considered to be a sacred place. “The students are expected to concentrate and build their career in the educational institutions. They must maintain exemplary discipline instead of fighting on roads being armed with lathis etc…. “The university authorities have acted swiftly in the present case and there are absolutely no grounds to interfere with their action…. Mere fact that the appellant allegedly reached at the spot a little late does not absolve him nor it would be a valid ground for lesser punishment. It was for the university authorities to decide and act in the manner they deemed it appropriate so that maintenance of discipline in the educational institution remains their paramount consideration. There is no reason to interfere with the order passed by the Single Judge”. Acting tough
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HC notice to two policemen for ‘handcuffing’ former official
Chandigarh, November 13 Though Punjab Director-General of Police and IPS officer Rakesh Aggarwal have also been made parties, notice has not been issued to them. The case will now come up for hearing on April 23 next year, when the policemen, Gulzar Singh and Harjit Singh, will respond to the allegations. Mittal through counsel Ranjan Lakhanpal alleged he was handcuffed from his office at Phagwara and paraded in the street. He was taken to a police station in handcuffs before being taken to the Civil Hospital in the same position. He was even taken to the court in handcuffs. His handcuffs were removed before producing him in the court room, but he was again handcuffed when he came out. Referring to the High Court decision in the case of World Human Rights Protection Council against the State of Punjab, Lakhanpal asserted that the court has ordered that no undertrial could be handcuffed except on permission by the court. “Keeping in view the facts and circumstances, contempt proceedings be initiated against the respondents for willfully and deliberately committing contempt of court,” he demanded. Mittal had earlier also filed a petition against Rakesh Aggarwal. He had, rather, accused him of misusing his powers following a family dispute.
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Paralympics medallist seeks cash reward, moves court
Chandigarh, November 13 Taking up the matter, Justice K Kannan issued the notice of motion for December 16 to the Director, Sports. Pursuing postgraduation in sociology at Chandigarh’s DAV College in Sector 10, Balwinder Kaur said she had won several gold and silver medals in shot put, javelin and discus throw in inter-state sports. She said she was not given any cash award although she won a bronze medal for India in shot put in Paralympics held in Sharjah in February 2014. Her counsel HC Arora said medal winners of Olympics and Paralympics could not be differentiated as both won medals in Olympics. As such, he demanded Rs 51 lakh for the petitioner for winning a bronze medal in Paralympics, on a par with Olympics bronze medal winners. Arora also submitted that cash awards were distributed by the Punjab Deputy Chief Minister to winners of medals in Asian Games and Commonwealth Games. A sportsperson in the physically disabled category, who won silver medal in power lifting, was also given a cash award. But the petitioner was ignored.
State put on notice
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Rs 8 cr paddy scams detected
Moga, November 13 Nishan Singh, Markfed district manager, alleged that 4,011 quintals of paddy worth Rs 78.94 lakh from the last year’s stock had gone missing from Dhaliwal Agro Rice Mills, situated near Rama village. A case has been registered at Badhni Kalan police station against Arun Kumar of Rama village. The second case has been registered against Gurbhej Kumar and Luvkesh Kumar of Jagraon in Ludhiana, the co-owners of Joga Agro Industries, Ajitwal. They allegedly siphoned off 84,995 bags of paddy from the last year’s stock. The Punjab State Warehousing Corporation had stored 2,58,788 bags in this mill, of which 84,995 bags, worth Rs 5.68 crore, were found missing. The third case has been registered against Gurbhej Kumar, who is running another mill, Hi-Tech Food Industry, at Ajitwal. As many as 11,460 bags worth Rs 79 lakh had gone missing from the total stock of 91,379 bags, which was stored by Markfed. No arrest has been made so far. Fresh trial ordered The Ferozepur District and Sessions Court has set aside charges framed by a trial court in the infamous ~8 crore paddy scam, unearthed in 2009. A fresh trial would begin in the case on Saturday.
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The rift between the ruling alliance partners — the SAD and the BJP — widened today.
Aiming to curb the rampant drug addiction in the state, the Punjab Congress today kicked off its ‘Save Punjab’ campaign from Majitha Assembly constituency, the home turf of Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia.
AICC secretary Harish Chaudhary and PPCC vice-president Amar Singh said they had selected five constituencies,
Majitha, Chabewal, Sanaur, Qadian and Ludhiana (West), for the campaign.
Embezzlement of paddy worth Rs 8 crore has come to light in three rice mills in the district. After inquiries by food procurement agencies and the economic offences wing of the police, separate criminal cases under IPC Sections 406 and 420 have been registered against the owners of these mills.
South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley will be landing in Amritsar tomorrow as part of her 10-day visit to India. Her sojourn to Amritsar is being seen as ‘homecoming’ here as she traces her roots to the region.
The Punjab Police is in contempt loop for allegedly handcuffing an accused. Acting on a petition alleging handcuffing of former presiding member of Kapurthala District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum Surinder Mittal, Justice Augustine George Masih has put two investigating officers on notice.