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Despair, confusion for kin of abducted youths
Batala youth fled captors despite bullets in his leg
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Tearful adieu to valiant soldiers
Six months on, state awaits funds from Modi govt
2 policemen aiding ‘FB cop’ suspended
Vigilance sleuths inspect files of Faridkot transport office
Farmers gherao cotton corp office
Get cracking on drugs: NHRC to govt
CM against doing away with MSP
Pak Hindus arrive for immersion of ashes
Kin plan to meet Sushma seventh time
Youth hurt in cross-fire near Attari station
Tarn Taran case: Missing key eyewitness traced Punish riot guilty: MP
PSEB gears up to check cheating Acid attack: Victim’s father writes to SSP
Two policemen among 11 booked for bid to murder
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Despair, confusion for kin of abducted youths
Chandigarh/Gurdaspur, November 28 A television channel report from Iraq had yesterday created ripples by claiming the kidnapped youths were dead. It quoted Harjit Masih, a Batala youth who escaped from the custody of insurgents, and two Bangladeshi nationals. But, Harjit’s mother Shinder Kaur claimed her son, during a telephonic conversation on November 13, did not speak anything about the killings. Though the state government has included names of seven more youths from Punjab in the category of kidnapped persons in Iraq, taking the official figure to 28, their whereabouts were still not known. A Punjab Government spokesperson said, “We checked with officials in the Ministry of External Affairs. They had no confirmation about the report that the detainees had been killed. They are checking with Indian officials and their sources in Irbil, Iraq. The ministry had last reported that the youths were alive, though their whereabouts were not known.” The special control room set up by the government to keep the victim families updated was flooded with calls today. Officials said seven new names were included after the receipt of verification reports from deputy commissioners. They said the file for approving compensation was with the Chief Minister’s Office. The victim families have been blaming the government “for not doing enough to rescue the youths”. They alleged the government had promised them Rs 20,000 a month till the youths returned, but some families had not received even a paisa.
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Batala youth fled captors despite bullets in his leg
Kala Afghana (Batala), November 28 Harjit had allegedly been quoted claiming that the 39 youths had been killed. The development sent shock waves among the families of the youths trapped in Mosul city of Iraq. The family claimed there were a total of 40 youth entrapped. Barring Harjit, all of them were still in captivity. Harjit’s mother Shinder Kaur, who works as a maid to eke out a living with her husband working as a labourer, said her son called her on November 13 on Robin’s phone. “He told me that he was with the officials of the Indian Embassy in Iraq. But, he did not tell us anything about the fate of the other trapped youths,” she said. Dharminder Kumar of Batala is one among the abducted youths. Keeping themselves abreast of the latest developments while watching television, Dharminder’s family members wondered as to why the government was not giving them “proper information” about the whereabouts of their son. “We have no trust on the two Bangladeshi nationals and Harjeet Masih, who were claiming that the 39 youths who were held hostage by the ISIS militants had been killed. The government was regularly assuring us that all the youths are alive and safe. We have full faith on our government,” said Kamaljeet, Dharminder’s mother. “We have not eaten properly for the last five months. It was on June 14 that my son called from Mosul to inform us that he along with 39 youths had been kidnapped and was being taken out of that town. After that call, we never heard from him,” she said. With tears in his eyes, Dharminder’s father Raj Kumar said he had taken Rs 1.5 lakh loan 15 months ago to send his son to Iraq where he was working in a construction company in Mosul town.
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Govt won’t let us down, say families
Amritsar, November 28 Gurpinder Kaur, sister of Manjinder Singh from Bhoewal village, said they were anxious to know about the well-being of her brother after the last night's news reports. "We have been making frantic calls ever since the news broke in. We had also called up the Union Ministry of External Affairs whose officials said there was nothing to worry," she said. Seema, wife of Sonu from Chawinda Devi village, said they were relieved after the statement of Union Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj in Parliament and now their only request to the government was to bring him back home safe and sound. Harbhajan Kaur, mother of Harsimranjit Singh from Babbowal village, said there was no truth in such media reports. She wondered how they could believe a Bangladeshi national who was not even present there.
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Tearful adieu to valiant soldiers
Gakhal, November 28 Senior Army officials from 5 Sikh Light Infantry laid wreaths on the body. Rajwinder said she had spoken to her husband on the phone minutes before the encounter. “Little did I know it was the last time I would hear his voice,” she said, crying incessantly. Satnam Singh, uncle of the deceased, said: “Kulwinder disconnected the phone, telling his wife that they were under fire. An hour later, she received a call that her husband had been shot by militants.” Kulwinder Singh joined the Army as a sepoy in 1998. He was promoted last year. He had won several medals in boxing. He was posted in Bhutan for two years. “My son was determined to join the Army despite the risk to life. He wanted to serve the nation. He did the country and the family proud,” said the martyr’s father, trying to hold back his tears. Mansa:
The body of Naik Jagseer Singh was cremated in Boha with military honours. He was shot by militants in Jammu and Kashmir yesterday. Shops in the town remained shut as a mark of tribute to the martyr. Subedar Jaswinder Singh of Sikh Light Infantry said Jagseer Singh and Kulwinder Singh, who were on forward positions, fought the militants valiantly. They were killed after a six-hour-long gunbattle. Naik Jagseer Singh is survived by his wife Balveer Kaur, daughter Arshdeep Kaur (7) and son Harmanjot (2). At home on a three-week leave, he had rejoined duty on November 20. Jagseer Singh’s teacher Dr Kuldeep Singh Deep said: “ Jagseer was a talented theatre artiste and had performed in several plays such as Eh Jhung Kaun Lade.” Balveer Kaur said she was proud of her husband who had died fighting for his country. Ajit Inder Singh Mofar and Chittan Singh Smao, MLAs, were among those who attended the cremation.
About the encounter
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Six months on, state awaits funds from Modi govt
Chandigarh, November 28 Punjab has had to face disappointment on several issues. It had sought a special fiscal package of Rs 2,330 crore for its farmers because of scanty rainfall, but was given nothing. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, accompanied by his son, Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal, had met Modi in New Delhi in this regard. They had submitted a charter of demands which included a debt waiver and a refund of Rs 2,694 crore paid as interest on a special Rs 5,800 crore loan for fighting militancy. The Badals had strongly argued for determining the MSP of various crops on the basis of the Swaminathan committee report. But this promise too has not been kept by the Modi government. The state government had to toil hard to ensure that the Union Finance Ministry released the cash credit limit to make payment to farmers in lieu of the paddy procured for the Centre. There has been a less than 4 per cent increase in the price of paddy this year. Punjab had demanded a special package to promote industry, as given to hill states, in order to stop industrialists from shifting to the neighbouring hill states. This demand too has been ignored by the Centre. The Badals had all along accused the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government of discriminating against Punjab. They had claimed that things would change after the Modi-led NDA government came to power. But that has not happened so far. The Centre has yet to respond to the Chief Minister's plea for a non-Plan grant of Rs 5,000 crore. Badal had raised several political issues. Among these were transferring Chandigarh to Punjab, a commission to probe the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, distribution of river waters as per the riparian law and boosting trade between India and Pakistan via Attari. Instead of any worthwhile help from the Centre, the BJP has begun a battle of one-upmanship with the SAD, which has the tacit support of some senior BJP leaders in Delhi, it is believed.
Claims & facts
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State of cities and towns: Sangrur Punjab, with a population of 38 per cent in cities, is on the road to urbanisation. Census 2011 figures indicate that a large number of people have migrated from villages to cities. With municipal elections in the state round the corner, The Tribune reporters visited various towns and cities to study the impact of urbanisation Sangrur, November 28 The government could not provide any special grant to the municipal council under the Punjab Nirman Fund during 2013-14 and 2014-15. In February 2014, before the announcement of the Lok Sabha elections, the council took a loan of Rs 8 crore from the Sangrur Improvement Trust to execute development works in the city. The step was perhaps aimed at wooing local voters in favour of the SAD candidate.
Poor financial standing
The financial status of the local municipal council cannot be termed as good as it often faces financial crisis to pay salaries, arrears and retirement benefits to its staff. For the current financial year (2014-15), the council passed a budget of Rs 24.15 crore for spending Rs 11.38 crore on establishment expenses (salary of employees etc), Rs 4.5 crore on development works, Rs 3 crore on power bills of tube wells and their maintenance, Rs 1.1 crore on streetlight bills, Rs 2.5 crore on repayment of loan taken from the Improvement Trust etc.
Income sources
During the current financial year, the council has shown an income of Rs 7.7 crore as VAT share from the state government, Rs 10 crore from the sale of land, Rs 1 crore from excise duty, Rs 1.5 crore from property tax, Rs 85 lakh from octroi on electricity, Rs 95 lakh from water supply and sewerage bills, Rs 50 lakh each from house tax and fee collected under town planning schemes etc.
Infrastructure
The roads throughout the city were potholed till a few weeks ago. However, these have been now repaired by doing patch work on the direction of the Deputy Commissioner. There is no city bus service. The local PRTC bus stand is in bad shape. Even moderate rainfall leads to its inundation. Drinking water is available in 95 per cent area of the city. Water supply is done through 21 tube wells. Three overhead water works are available in the city, but only one is used to supply water in the area. In the remaining area, water is supplied to the people directly from tube wells. Sewerage is available in the 60 per cent area of the city. Twelve outer localities are yet to be extended the facility. The council has no water-treatment plant while its sewerage disposal point is also in poor shape. A Rs 78-crore sewerage project for the city was sent to the Centre by the state government, but to no avail so far. The council has five tractors, eight trailers, a JCB machine, a sewer tanker for clearing pipelines, two engines for draining dirty water and undertaking other sanitation work. Sewer lines, however, remain choked. Most of the garbage depots of the council are without boundary walls, stench continues to emanate from these places, causing inconvenience to the people. The council needs a big vehicle for clearing choked sewers, but it is not in a position to spare around Rs 1 crore for buying it. To regulate traffic near the main bus stand, the local municipal council installed traffic lights by spending Rs 6 lakh a few years ago, but they are not functional for the past about a year. There is no proper arrangement to regulate traffic in the city due to which traffic jams have become a common sight at several points, especially near Easyday Store (Sunami Gate), PNB (Patiala Gate), Chhota Chowk (Dhuri Gate). Stray cattle pose a big problem, especially to motorists. Stray dogs are also a big threat to the residents, but the council has no funds for their sterilisation. The Civil Hospital here has been a 100-bed hospital for over 30 years. There is an urgent need to upgrade it to 200-bed facility. The hospital has 33 posts of doctor. Out of these, 19 are vacant, including that of radiologist, psychiatrist, anaesthetist, paediatrician, ENT specialist and emergency medical officers. The number of primary, high and senior secondary schools in the city is sufficient to meet the demand. District Education Officer (Secondary) Nirmal Singh Sidhu said there was no need to set up more schools in the city.
Political situation
Going by current political developments in the state, residents here may see some SAD and the BJP leaders contesting against each other as Independent candidates. Certain BJP leaders do not hesitate to admit differences with the SAD on municipal council elections. After the issuance of notification regarding delimitation of wards, Sangrur city will have 27 wards, comprising 11 general wards. Nine wards will be reserved for women, six for Scheduled Castes and one for Backward Classes. During the previous municipal council elections in 2008, there were 21 wards in the city. The Congress won in 10 wards, the SAD in six, the BJP in four and Independent in one.
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2 policemen aiding ‘FB cop’ suspended
Bathinda, November 28 But, no action has been taken Mansa Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Harmeek Deol whose office and government vehicle the accused allegedly used to get the photographs clicked. Karandeep would allegedly post these pictures on the social networking site and use these to further his interests. In one picture, the accused is seen posing next to Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal. Senior Superintendent of Police Bhupinder Khatra said initial investigations failed to find anything against Deol. He refused comment on the police uniform and a pistol that the accused allegedly flaunted in one photograph. Superintendent of Police Raghubir Sandhu said nothing incriminating had been found so far against the DSP or Karandeep. “It appears the accused was fond of flaunting his proximity to police officers by posting pictures on Facebook,” said Sandhu. “Karandeep used to sit the entire day at a women’s police station from where he would make phone calls to women constables. He was caught red-handed by the Mansa SSP around two months ago and was given a severe dressing down,” said Gursewak Jawarke, an Akali leader. Jawarke alleged that Karandeep pocketed Rs 50,000 from a local resident, Gurcharan Charni, after promising to bail out his son who had been booked in a criminal case. “The accused did not help despite taking the money. I called up Karandeep and requested him to refund the amount as the victims were poor, but he refused to entertain my request,” said
Jawarke.
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Vigilance sleuths inspect files of Faridkot transport office
Faridkot, November 28 Harjinder Singh, Deputy Superintendent of Police (Vigilance),
Faridkot, said for any inter-state transfer of ownership of vehicle, the new state had to seek NOC from the original registration authority. This was usually issued by the authority after ascertaining that all taxes/dues were paid. After assessing the market value of the vehicle, tax at the rate of eight per cent was charged in Punjab. However, there were reports that some officials in the Transport Department were not following the laid-out procedure for transferring the ownership of vehicles. Sources in the Vigilance Department said there had been allegations of wrongful allotment of old vehicle registration numbers in the
PNB, PUT, PIB, PAW, PCW and PAW series for aspirants of small or fancy numbers. These old VIP or fancy registration numbers were being sold at premium rates,
the sources claimed.
Inter-state transfer of vehicles Ownership of vehicles is being transferred in the name of residents of Punjab allegedly without NOCs from the parent state, causing a huge loss of sales and road tax to the state exchequer
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Farmers gherao cotton corp office
Bathinda, November 28 The police and the Sub-Divisional Magistrate urged CCI general manager AK Shrivastava to intervene. Later, Shrivastava assured the protesters of every possible help in all the districts of the Malwa region where the procurement was tardy. While talking to The Tribune, Shrivastava said due to a global bumper cotton crop, the export was comparatively less this time. He said the season of procurement, which started on October 1, would end in March-April and so, there was still a lot of time to purchase cotton bales.
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Pendu Chowkidar Union ends dharna
Sangrur, November 28 State president of the union Satgur Singh Majhi also ended his 11-day-old fast on the request of state body of the union. Rural watchmen were protesting against the state government for not hiking their wages. They have been getting Rs 800 per month, while they are demanding Rs 8,635 per month. They said the government should implement minimum wages norms in their case. Before ending their protest, they burnt an effigy of the state government and raised slogans in support of their demand. They asked the government how a person could live a smooth life with such meagre wages. State general secretary of the union Balraj Singh Nandgarh said if the government did not think about rural watchmen till February, the union would intensify its protest. He said they met the Financial Commissioner on Wednesday. He told them that the state had no money to fulfil their demand, at least till March. However, the officer assured them that he would recommend their case to the Cabinet, he added.
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Get cracking on drugs: NHRC to govt
Chandigarh, November 28 Justice Balakrishnan said Punjab needed to get cracking on the drug menace. He said the state government had explained that in 2014 more than 500 kg of heroin was seized and 1,300 cases were registered under the NDPS Act. “The Punjab Government needs to tackle the drug menace at all levels,” he said during an interaction with mediapersons. Justice Balakrishnan said the issues that were taken up related to rehabilitation of Scheduled Caste persons who had been occupying government land for decades and were recently evicted and police indifference towards attrocities, etc. Disposing of the complaints, the commission emphasised the police should be pro-active in dealing with atrocities on the Scheduled Caste community. The commission took up 11 cases relating to various issues while 17 cases of custodial death and police encounters were taken up by the division benches.
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CM against doing away with MSP
Chandigarh, November 28 He was talking to Shanta Kumar, chairman of a committee formed to restructure the FCI. An official spokesperson said the Chief Minister suggested that a mutually agreed upon memorandum of understanding (MoU) be signed between the FCI and the state government well before the procurement season. Badal emphasised that the storage charges should be reasonable and that the FCI should procure its allotted share. Badal batted for the implementation of the Swaminathan Report to ensure remunerative prices for various crops. Shanta Kumar said the committee would give due weightage to the suggestions by various stakeholders to further strengthen the supply chain of food grain. He said the farmers must be motivated to opt for less water-consuming crops such as maize, sugarcane and basmati. He underscored the need for agro-processing units in the state, saying this would help farmers supplement their income.
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Pak Hindus arrive for immersion of ashes
Amritsar, November 28 Pleading anonymity, they said life was tough for Hindus in Pakistan as there had been instances of abduction and forced conversion of Hindu girls. They also alleged that their complaints were not registered by the authorities concerned in Pakistan. They said security restrictions after terror attacks in Pakistan had made their movement difficult within the country. They said they could not shift to India as they had their business interests in Pakistan.
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Kin plan to meet Sushma seventh time
Jalandhar, November 28 Having had no communication with the detainees since June 15, the families said even as hope for them to see their loved ones again had been diminishing with each passing day, they did not want to go by unconfirmed media reports. Kamaljit Kaur (35), wife of Roop Lal of Bath Kalan village, was unaware about the TV reports. Her brother Pawan Kumar said Kamaljit had slipped into depression. “We brought her to our house at Khotran village near Phagwara and are getting her treatment done. She is somewhat better, but may not be able to bear this shock,” he said.
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Youth hurt in cross-fire near Attari station
Amritsar, November 28 Manohar Lal, SP (D), Amritsar Rural, said
the police acted on a tip-off that three persons carrying weapons were hiding in a private
school at Attari. “A police team rushed to the site and surrounded the school premises.
The youths tried to escape by scaling the school wall. When challenged, they fired at the police party.
In the retaliatory fire, one of them was injured. Two others hid in the nearby railway quarters. One of them was caught,” said the SP (D), Amritsar Rural. The Gharinda police have registered a case under Section 307 of the IPC and Sections 25,54 and 59 of the Arms Act.
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Two policemen among 11 booked for bid to murder
Moga, November 28 Assistant Sub-Inspector Surinder Pal Singh, posted at Samalsar police station, and Head Constable Jatinder Kumar, posted at Mehna police station, along with eight persons, had allegedly attacked Kapil while he was on his way home after closing his shop on Thursday. They assaulted him with sharp-edged weapons and bats. They also fired shots in the air. Later, victim’s uncle Balram Sharma took him to the hospital. A case has been registered against the policemen and Vikram Sharma, Lucky Takkar, Jatinder Kumar, Raghu Sharma, Raman Sharma, besides four unidentified youths. Preliminary investigation revealed that Kapil is a relative of the accused and there was personal enmity between them. Two years ago, Vikram had fired at Kapil from the service revolver of his uncle. Later, they had reached a compromise. — TNS
About the incident: Assistant Sub-Inspector Surinder Pal Singh and Head Constable Jatinder Kumar, along with eight persons, allegedly attacked Kapil Sharma with sharp weapons and bats. They also fired shots in the air
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Kala Afghana (Batala), November 28
Bathinda, November 28
