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Despite 10 gastroenteritis deaths, potable water eludes
residents
Jalandhar, June 9 The corporation has sent eight new water pipes to the colony but instead of being fitted, these have been locked in the tubewell room of Budha Mal Park. Residents said the number of the pipes was so low that these could replace old pipes in just one of the hundreds of barracks in the colony. No tubewell in the colony has been repaired and no replacement of corroded pipes has been done ever since, claim residents. Substantiating their claim, they filled a bottle with tap water and showed that it contained rust and corroded material. The residents said they had complained to the MC authorities about it. The latter suggested that they could either tie a muslin cloth on the mouth of the tap or filter the water before drinking it. Employees of the government dispensary in the colony claim that only three to four patients are coming to them every day, which is normal in the hot, humid weather. But there are at least 10 medicine shops in the colony whose owners act like doctors and attend about 10 patients suffering from gastric trouble every day. The owner of a chemist shop near the dispensary did not hesitate to name a few antibiotics that he had been prescribing for such patients. Also there are several private clinics in the colony that are preferred to the dispensary by the residents. Aarti Devi (19), a resident of the colony, has been lying in the female medical ward of the Civil Hospital since yesterday after she complained of vomiting, dysentery and fever. Sunny (18), also from the same colony, was admitted to the hospital last evening. His attendants alleged that even though he had been complaining of severe pain in the abdomen last night, no doctor attended to him till this morning. A majority of the patients prefer to stay at home till the situation goes out of control. 35-year-old Bimla and her two children, Aman (3) and Sucheta (7), have been complaining of symptoms related to gastroenteritis since the past two days. All three are lying at home. Dr Kiranjeet Kumar, Civil Surgeon, said he had organised several camps in the area urging residents to drink boiled water. Mr Surinder Mahey, Mayor, said the replacement of old pipes would begin soon. But he argued that the real cause of the problem was the poor quality water pipes being used by residents for the internal supply. |
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Diarrhoea fails to rouse
admn
Muktsar, June 9 According to a survey conducted by TNS today, contaminated water is still being supplied to many parts of Muktsar city. The authorities themselves admitted that contaminated water was being supplied to several parts of the city. Contrary to claims of the district administration, drinking water is not being supplied to any part of the city through tanks. The worst-affected areas where contaminated water is being supplied include Gandhi Nagar, Khadianwali Gali, Jhodhu Colony, Pandit Jai Dayal Street and localities surrounding Kotli, Goniana and Morh roads. The rootcause of the problem is the mixing of the drinking and sewerage water at several points. As many as 15 samples of water of the total 49 taken so far from different parts of the district have confirmed contamination. Similarly, five diarrhoea and gastroenteritis patients have been admitted to different hospitals of the 213 cases detected so far, according to reliable sources. Avtar Chand, a resident of Goniana road, locality said no water through tanks was supplied to their areas and they had to drink water supplied to them by public Health Department. Almost similar statements came from Manjit Kaur of Gandhi Nagar, Gurmeet Kaur, Kamlesh Bagla and Anjan Pal Dhillon of Morh road locality. They said they were purchasing drinking water from youths who were bringing it from Tutti Gandhi Gurdwara in tanks on rickshaws or tongas. Meanwhile, Mr Jaswinder Singh, Executive Engineer of the Public Health Department admitted that water being supplied to several parts of the district was unfit for consumption. He attributed this problem to old water pipes. These have been damaged at several places and their repair was almost impossible. He said, adding that 6.5 km of the 76 km of waterpipes laid in the city were 4 to 10 feet deep and were in those areas where lanes were narrow. If the lanes were dugup for carrying out repairs the houses might collapse, he added. Mr Jaswinder Singh further said the department had already made a plan to lay new pipes in these areas for which an estimate of Rs 42 lakh had been sent, which had already been passed by the state government. Mr
A.S. Bhatti, ADC, said he would make sure that potable water was made available to the residents through tanks.
Hoshiarpur, June 9 This was stated by Dr
Y.C. Marjan, Civil Surgeon, while talking to mediapersons here today. He said the situation was under control.
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Govt had been warned of impure
water
Chandigarh, June 9 Officially, they refuse to comment on the issue. Unofficially they agree that diarrhoea situation in the state may have been different had they acted on the recommendations of the Health Department. A senior officer in the Punjab Health Department — on the condition of anonymity — asserts that a demi official letter was written by the then Secretary in the Health Department, Mr D.S. Jaspal. But action was not initiated. He adds that Mr Jaspal — now Secretary, Information and Public Relations — had recommended distancing of water supply lines from sewerage pipes lines to ensure against the mixing of two in case of leakage. Mr Jaspal was not available for comments. The officer further adds that several other letters were also shot to the authorities concerned, but in vain. This is not all. A meeting was held between Secretary in the Department of Health and Family Welfare D.S. Guru, and the local bodies department on May 24 this year — much before the state's health system "crumbled". At the meeting, the need for creating distance between the two pipe lines was once again reiterated so as to ensure against the outbreak of diarrhoea and possible gastroenteritis cases. It was also decided to take immediate steps for plugging leakages. Directions were also issued to the authorities concerned to supply potable water through tankers in case of leakage. Compliance with the recommendations regarding creation of distance between the pipes may have made a difference as "parallel presence of water and sewerage pipes" is largely responsible for the problem. "In case of leakage due to rusty and weathered pipes, sewage is getting mixed with potable water," the officer explains. "Otherwise, in Patiala, Bathinda and some other cities water pipes are actually passing through open drains". The authorities in water board blame financial crunch for their inability to act in the matter. They say that the government can do precious little to prevent the outbreak of water borne diseases until it gets loan from the World Bank to fix drinking water system. A senior officer in the board claims that it was not possible to create distance between the pipes specially when the roads themselves are not more than five feet wide. He adds that leakage takes place only when the joints are not secured properly. |
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Cleanliness drive
launched
Faridkot, June 9 Inaugurating the scheme at Jiwan Nagar, Mr Hussan Lal, Deputy Commissioner, sought the cooperation of the residents implementing the plan effectively. Issuing the directions to the Health Department to take all measures to check the sale of cut and over-ripe fruits and ice candies, the Deputy Commissioner also asked the officials of the Nagar Council to remove all encroachments from the Mall and Old Sabzi Mandi. Mr Vijay Gupta, Executive Officer, Nagar Council, stated that despite a shortage of about 200 safai sevaks efforts were being made to make the environment clean. The state government has been approached to grant approval to fill the vacant posts of safai
karamchari. A plan has also been mooted to purchase a fogging machine shortly, Mr Gupta said. |
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SAD contesting all seats in SGPC poll
Chandigarh, June 9 In all, 1156 candidates are contesting the elections. Figures issued by the Gurdwara Election Commission reveal that 1049 candidates are all set to try their luck in Punjab. For Haryana, 91 candidates are contesting. In Himachal Pradesh, just six candidates are in the field. From Chandigarh, as many as 10 candidates are contesting. In the 170-member SGPC general house, Punjab has 157 seats. Haryana has 11 seats. Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh have one each. The seats are spread over 120 constituencies across Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh. As many as 30 seats are reserved for women and 20 for the Scheduled Castes. The process of filing nomination papers for the polls ended on Tuesday. The Chief Commissioner of the Gurdwara Elections, Justice, J.S. Sekhon, said the scrutiny of nominations would be done on June 11. |
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Morcha nominee withdraws
candidature
Tarn Taran, June 9 Mr Muradpur, at a meeting of SAD workers convened at his residence today, expressed faith in the leadership of Mr Parkash Singh Badal and announced to work in favour of Mr Pakhoke. |
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SAD leader quits
Bathinda, June 9 The meeting was held under the chairmanship of its district president, Mr Baldev Singh Maghar. —
OC |
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Inside Babudom
Chandigarh, June 9 The reason given is that they are facing a case under Prevention of Corruption Act. "We have suffered too much. The trauma we have undergone was unbearable. Still we put it behind us and prepared ourselves afresh for the competition on the promise that if selected on merit, we would get back our seniority. But now again we are being denied appointment letters on a charge which has not been established," says one of the successful candidates. There appears to be some communication gap between the Vigilance Bureau, the investigating agency, and the Personnel Department, which issued appointment letters, about the ongoing cases. Those left out include Mr Kamal Garg and Mr Rahul Gupta. The FIR registered at Patiala on September 5, 2002, mentions five candidates and of Mr Gurcharan Singh Pherurai, the then SSP of Ferozepore and father of a candidate for offering cash bribes. The case of Mr Rahul Gupta has been labelled as one of "sifarish" only and there is no allegation of corruption against him. At one stage, the government was of the view that the entire selection made during the tenure of Mr Ravi Sidhu smacked of corruption and was bad and should be set aside. But now, the government has narrowed down that to only seven candidates who have proved their merit in what the government has claimed to be a "transparent and just selection". "Why should we be punished second time for a crime which has not been proved against us," they say, quoting from the undertakings the State had made in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. While the charge of corruption lies only in case of financial transactions - offering and accepting bribe - leading to registration of case under Sections 8 and 12 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, no charge could be substantiated so far against Mr Rahul Gupta, son of a former member of the Punjab Public Service Commission. The only presumption against him that his father might have used his influence in the selection of his son. At no stage Mr Rahul Gupta was charged of bribing the then Chairman of the PPSC financially. Intriguingly, he improved his merit position from ninth during Ravi Sidhu's tenure to seventh under Lieut-Gen Surjit Singh's chairmanship. In fact, full Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court had referred to the allotment of petrol pumps and LPG agencies by the previous NDA government and said that only 59 of the 3760 persons were found guilty of getting them clandestinely as all others were given a clean chit.
Postings given In the meanwhile, the government has issued posting orders of all 30 new PCS (Executive branch) officers. Those given postings are : Mr Amit Talwar, Mr Uma Shankar, Mr Sandeep Rishi, Mr Rajesh Tripathi, Mr Dinesh Singh, Mr Upkar Singh, Mr Jasdeep Singh Aulakh, Mr Karnail Singh, Mr Rajiv Kumar Gupta, Mr Gurpreet Singh Thind,Mr Jagwinderjit Singh Grewal, Mr Amandeep Bansal, Mr Parminderpal Singh, Ms Hargunjit Kaur, Ms Neeu Katyal, Mr Ravinder Singh, Mr Rahul Chaba, Mr Subash Chander, Ms Anupam Kler, Mr Dalwinderjit Singh, Mr Paramjit Singh, Mr Rishipal Singh, Mr Jasbir Singh, Mr Moneesh Kumar, Mr Narinder Singh Sangha, Mr Neeraj Kumar, Mr Ajay Kumar Sood, Mr Pushpinder Singh Kailey, Mr Sohan Lal Bhumbak and Mr Kuljit Pal Singh Malhi. |
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Club poll: Commissioner ‘influencing’
candidates
Jalandhar, June 9 Lala group had accused the Mann group of conniving with the bureaucracy, including the Commissioner of Jalandhar Division, Dr Sawarn Singh, for trying to force the candidates to withdraw from the race under the umbrella of “unanimity” in its bid to empower the bureaucracy to select their own people for the plum posts. Mr Mittal, who remained secretary of the club for over 20 years in the past, alleged that though the Punjab and Haryana High Court had ordered to conduct fair and free elections for four posts of office-bearers and 10 executive members, but Dr Pawan Gupta and Dr Mann had tried to influence the candidates to withdraw from the contest so as to have a unanimous selection of their own people. Mr Mittal had announced that his team would conduct a probe into alleged embezzlement of funds to the tune of Rs 2 crore, if voted to power. “The club had a fixed deposit of Rs 2 crore when I left the office of the secretary about four years back. We suspect that there is a lot of financial embezzlement in the club, which needs to be probed,” he added. Making a scathing attack on Lala group, Dr Pawan Gupta and Dr Mann alleged that their rivals were levelling false allegations of misappropriation of funds so as to defer elections. “We are in favour of elections as we are confident of getting maximum number of posts. Why shall we opt for unanimous elections. Besides, we are fully in favour of a high level inquiry into any such allegations to put truth before the members of the club and the guilty should be dealt accordingly,” said Dr Gupta. Both the groups were holding dinner meetings to sought support of the members, who have virtually been divided into two groups due to their affiliations. The tussle among these groups had reached new heights as they started levelling allegations against each other. Meanwhile, a PPCC executive member, Mr Anil Dutta and the Chairman of Jalandhar Improvement Trust, Mr Tajinder Singh Bittu, had lodged complaint with the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, against Dr Sawarn Singh for latter’s reported move to seek forced withdrawal from the candidates on the last date of withdrawal. “The bureaucrats should not hamper the democratic procedure to elect new office bearers and we have conveyed our reservations towards the acts of Dr Sawarn Singh to the Punjab Chief Minister,” Mr Bittu said, adding that free and fair polls should be conducted as per the directive of the high court. Mr Mittal, however, demanded that the state government should constitute an independent committee to conduct free and fair poll as the local officials were trying to influence the entire electoral process due to their own vested interests. |
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Chit fund owner, family disappear after duping
people
Amritsar, June 9 Meanwhile, in a belated action the police has sealed the house of Nagi on the Majitha road. Earlier too, fly-by-night
operators finance companies had already siphoned off huge amounts much to the chagrin of gullible people who had their hard earned money to such illegal non-banking finance companies, who are flouting the guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India. The district administration had failed to enforce the finance norms against such operators despite circulating ban orders under Section 144 of the IPC for the past 15 years. However , neither the state government nor the district administration has evolved any mechanism to stop illegal activities of such finance companies. Interestingly, Nagi had allegedly lured senior officials of the state government to invest their money in various schemes. However, such officers would allegedly conceal their identity while making investments in such non-banking companies. Nagi would invest the money through benami in the real estate . Like Nagi many owners of such non-banking companies had disappeared from the city after duping the people of huge amounts. Nagi alongwith his family members fled from the city a day after Mr Ranjit Singh Nanda, a former CBI officer, filed a written complaint with the district police chief. Mr Nanda had written to the SSP that he had invested his pension benefits with Sublime Chit Fund but the latter had refused to refund the same . Before fleeing from the city, Nagi had given post-dated cheques to a number of his investors which bounced later. Mr Harmanbir Singh Gill, SP (City), said the complaint of Mr Nanda had been referred to the district attorney for legal opinion. |
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Tempers rise as auction gets cancelled
midway
Amritsar, June 9 As many as 300 bidders had arrived in the premises of the trust office for the of auction. According to the fax message, trust authorities were required to get the reserve price fixed for areas to be auctioned according to the new market rates which were to be determined by the Deputy Commissioner and further to be approved by the government before any sale or auction was allowed. In view of the serious lapse of overlooking the directions, the entire auction for the bidding of 66 shops, flats and booths in the posh Nehru complex, the truck stand scheme, ghee Mandi Ajit Nagar scheme, Ajnala road expansion scheme, were called off after the Additional Deputy Commissioner, Mr Parveen Kumar, advised against holding any further activity. Ms Ratna, chairperson of trust said she was not aware of the letter for the review of reserve price that was received by the trust on April 5, before the auction and it was brought to her notice only after the fax message. She said the Executive Officer had forwarded it to the Superintending Engineer (SE) and had not sought her signature on the same, leading to the “blunder”. The two, whose bidding for shops in the posh Nehru complex complex came under the hammer, threatened to move court against the trust’s decision to announce the cancellation after the bidding quorum was complete. Meanwhile, all seven trustees of the improvement trust in a separate meeting sought a thorough probe into the matter. They said lakhs were spent on advertisements, pamphlets, besides arrangements for the auction. They said they were not taken into confidence regarding the auction or its cancellation by the chairperson. |
Nahar blames
BSP gen secy for defeat
Jalandhar, June 9 Addressing a press conference here, Mr Nahar, who was expelled from the party for alleged anti-party activities, said he had submitted a written complaint against the anti-party activities of Mr Tinoo to the BSP President, Ms Mayawati, and the in-charge of state party affairs, Mr Narinder Kashyap, soon after the declaration of results, but no action had been taken against Mr Tinoo so far. “I have written in my complaint about the involvement of three persons who struck a deal with Mr Tinoo on behalf of the Congress nominee. Even Mr Tinoo was seen coming out of the official residence of the Mayor, Mr Surinder Mahey, on May 9, a day before the polling. A sum of Rs 20 lakh was given to Mr Tinoo in three instalments for the diversion of BSP votes to the Congress,” he alleged, adding that he was punished for raising his voice against Mr Tinoo on the party platform. “The BSP leadership is against the Valmiki community, which is evident from the fact that though I was not keen to contest the elections, I was forced to do so in an attempt to embarrass me. Besides, BSP leaders and workers of Jalandhar had shifted their base temporarily to Phillaur, from where Mr Tinoo was contesting,” he alleged. When he raised his voice against the activities of Mr Tinoo within the party, he was threatened with dire consequences, including expulsion from the party, by state BSP president Avtar Singh Karimpuri and Mr Kashyap. Elaborating on his plans, Mr Nahar said a meeeting of his supporters had been convened for July 4 at Jalandhar to plan a strategy. He hinted at launching a new regional party soon. Meanwhile, Mr Tinoo refuted the allegations and said Mr Nahar had deliberately not launched a serious campaign during the elections, which led to his defeat. |
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Language issue has been ‘politicised’
Patiala, June 9 A meeting of the principals of the colleges affiliated to the university had passed a resolution calling for reducing marks of both Punjabi and English by 50 per cent and introducing computer application as a new subject at the graduate level. While there was not even a murmur of protest against the reduction of marks and consequently of periods of English, protests galore against the move to reduce the marks of Punjabi. With Deputy Speaker Bir Devinder Singh also speaking against the move, the Chief Minister’s office intervened to stop the university from going ahead with the proposal. The university consequently put off a meeting of the Academic Council which was scheduled for June 9 to adopt the proposal. However, it is to be seen as to what the students especially private colleges in rural areas, have lost with the move being put in cold storage. Presently, private colleges in rural areas do not even offer computer application as an elective subject. Students in rural areas, who want to pursue a computer application course, will now have to pay thousands of rupees for the same to private parties while the university had offered to charge them Rs 50 a month only for this course. Private colleges would have been able to charge this low amount from the students because the university had agreed to forgo 50 per cent of its share of the college Development Fund taken from Colleges for a period of two years. It is difficult to make computer application a compulsory subject in the present set up. This is because six periods (three theory and three practical) are required to teach computer application every week. The university was aiming to reduce the periods of both Punjabi and English to make this possible. Even though the move has been dropped as for now, students and parents overwhelmingly feel the university should find a via media to introduce computer application at the graduate level even if it keeps only four periods for the same every week. The Punjabi University Students Confederation (PUSC), which is against the move to reduce the marks of Punjabi language, feels computer application can be introduced in the colleges by reducing the marks of the optional subjects. Parents feel that the issue has been politicised and no feedback has been taken from the students of rural colleges or even their parents about the necessity of introducing the subject. They said even the voice of the college principals, who passed a resolution in its favour, has been ignored. They feel the issue should be debated at a wider level and should not be left to the Punjabi Board of Studies which had rejected the move. They said this had taken place even though the benefits of computer education are known to most of the members of the board whose children are themselves pursuing advanced computer courses. The need to redefine the role of Punjabi University is also being felt by many people. This is because the University was an exclusively residential one when it was founded with no colleges being affiliated to it and its sole purpose was to serve the cause of Punjabi and Punjab culture. However, with time the character of the university changed somewhat when it started offering standard courses. Presently, intellectuals say the institution has to exist in a global atmosphere in which computer education is important and that the university should take up the proposal again and could side by side further increase research activity in Punjabi to serve its founding ideals. |
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Badal asked to explain
conduct
Chandigarh, June 9 In a statement here today, he said SAD leaders were in the habit of starting destructive activities to destabilise peace whenever they were out of power. He also urged the BJP leadership to make its stand clear with regard to Mr Badal’s conduct at Amritsar. About the river waters issue, Mr Tej Parkash Singh said the Eradi Tribunal should be disbanded immediately. Punjab did not have a single drop of excess water for sharing with Haryana. Mr Badal had not defended the state’s interests on river waters because he had thick family relations with Mr Om Parkash Chautala, Chief Minister of Haryana, he alleged. In case water was given to Haryana, a vast part of Punjab would become barren, he asserted. |
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1 dead, 5 hurt as shell explodes in welding shop
Jalandhar, June 9 Meanwhile, senior Army officials reached the spot this afternoon and conducted an inspection of the explosion site before leaving the place with the shell. The Army authorities refused to divulge details about how the shell was taken out of the prohibited area even as sources maintained that the shell was of some old model gun which was rarely used nowadays. The incident occurred in the morning, when a scrap vendor Ramu, a migrant labourer, came to a welding shop in Model House locality here with about 4-foot-long shell to get extracted brass metal out of it. As soon as the welder heated the shell, it exploded, injuring six persons. The injured were identified as Amit (45), Tinku (18), Shiv Ram (76), Ramu (22), Ashok (35) and Rakesh (40). The injured were immediately rushed to the local Civil Hospital, where Tinku succumbed to his injuries late in the afternoon. |
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450 await pension: Dang
Amritsar, June 9 In a letter to the Director, Social Security, Women and Children Welfare, Mr Dang stated that a majority of the pensioners were awaiting pension for the past two years. He said no new application forms for old-age and other pensions were being issued to new applicants by the department concerned. |
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Fatehgarh Sahib all set to tackle floods
Fatehgarh Sahib, June 9 He said if the district faces flash-floods, all government departments and NGOs should work as one unit to save lives and property of the people. He said to meet the challenge of floods all arrangements had been completed and eight boats, one trailer, one engine, 20 life-saving jackets, 65 tents had been allotted to all respective SDMs. To access the loss after the floods, DDPO and BDPOs would assist the Tehsildars, while EOs would assist SDMs in preparing the lists of losses. The District Flood and Civil Supply Department would look after all arrangements for providing the flood-hit with refreshment and food. Civil Surgeon would form teams of doctors and would make sure that required medicines were available in hospitals and dispensaries. Deputy Director, Animal Husbandry, would make arrangements for the treatment of animals. DEO(S) and DEO(E) had been directed to inspect all buildings of the schools and report about the unsafe buildings. The district Transport Department had been directed to ensure the proper transportation arrangements for shifting the flood affected people to safer places. XEN, Drainage and EOs had been directed to make proper arrangements in rural and urban areas for the smooth disposal of water. |
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MC asks PSIEC to carve plots at a suitable site
Mohali, June 9 It is learnt that the PSIEC has carved five plots (657 to 661) in the vacant land near the waterworks. In a letter dated June 7, written to the Managing Director, PSIEC, the council president, Mr Kulwant Singh, has pointed out that a master plan had been given to the council at the time when the Phase IX industrial area was handed over to it for maintenance. According to the master plan, a tubewell, a water tank and some housing quarters were constructed in the waterworks area and the rest of the area had been left as a green belt for further expansion of the essential services in the future. A power grid had also been shown in the area in the master plan. At the time when the Phase IX industrial area was handed over to the council for maintenance, it had been decided that if any change was to be brought about in the area, the council would be taken into confidence. The president said it had come to his notice that the PSIEC had carved out five plots near the waterworks without taking the approval of the civic body in this regard. The plots did not exist in the master plan. The plots were very near the 120 ft high water tank. Moreover, water supply lines were passing from underneath the area and as such construction activity should not be allowed near the waterworks. The maintenance of the supply lines would also become a problem. The civic body is spending lakhs of rupees on the maintenance of the area. |
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PSEB staff protest against Power Bill
Kharar, June 9 Leader of the federation demanded that the government should immediately scrap the Power Bill, 2003, in order to safeguard the interests of board employees and power consumers. They said whenever a power board had been unbundled, it had led to a deterioration in power services and a hike in the tariff. A protest had also been organised by members of the Technical Services Union (TSU) of the Punjab State Electricity Board, Morinda division, against the Power Bill, 2003, here yesterday. The protesters had marched to the office of the local SDM and presented a memorandum of demands. They had also staged a dharna. They said that the government had given an assurance that the power board would not be unbundled, but no concrete steps had been taken to implement this. At a meeting held today, Mr Bhupinder Singh, president
TSU, said that board employees had been holding regular protests against the move of the government to go in for privatisation.
Dharna against PSEB
privatisation
Patiala, June 9 The forum demanded that the Union Government should reject the Electricity Act 2003. The forum added that according to the policies of the Union Government, any organisation which was running into profit would not be
privatised. The members of forum said the board was running in Rs 100 crore profit and should not be
privatised. |
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VB opposes Sukhbir’s plea on US visit
Ropar, June 9 He had to undergo CT scan and Bear tests at USA. Mr Sukhbir also attached along with the application, an invitation from Santa Clause Sports and Culture Society of USA. The bureau in its reply filed today opposed the application on the plea that the medical tests that Mr Sukhbir Badal was to undergo in USA were easily available in India. It also apprehended that Mr Sukhbir Badal might scuttle the inquiry being conducted into his foreign assets in USA. The judge reserved the order on the application of Mr Sukhbir Badal for tomorrow. |
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Tricycles given to
disabled
Bathinda, June 9 In a press note issued here, the secretary of the society said 10 physically challenged persons were given crutches and 20 received artificial limbs free of cost at the camp. |
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Ayurvedic camp in Muscat
Fatehgarh Sahib, June 9 Hundreds of Omani, Arabians and NRI patients attended the camp. He said asthma patients, who were fed up of antibiotics were cured with the help of “Akk Bhasam”. The ‘Akk Bhasam’ was prepared by Dr Garg. He claimed that a grain sized dose of this medicine taken with milk cream twice daily cures asthma patients completely. He said it was also a magic cure for chronic cough and rhinitis. One had to take precautions and eat and drink according to nature of the body. He said foreigners were impressed and had urged Dr Garg to extend the camp. He said patients suffering from indigestion, physical and mental disorders were also treated in camp. |
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‘Enterprising’
minister
Chandigarh, June 9 According to sources, the minister had got booked three rooms for his family with a probable intend of working a closer political rapport with Mrs Priyanka Gandhi Vadhra. Though the minister and his family succeeded to be in the hotel the day the Vadhras arrived, what success his plan achieved could not be ascertained immediately. Of late, a number of senior Punjab Congressmen have been in the race for top positions, both in the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) as well as the Punjab Congress Legislature Party (CLP) amidst speculations that changes at the top are in the offing. Before the Vadhras arrived in Himachal Pradesh, a top Punjab Congress leader was already camping in the hill state at his farmhouse close to Shimla. Since movements of the Vadhras are a closely guarded secret, it could not be ascertained whether they visited him at his farmhouse or not. |
Police resubmits plea on
Daler
Patiala, June 9 The Sadar police today resubmitted the application in the court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate P.S. Dhanoa. The application, which runs into 150 pages, made out a case for the discharge of the popstar in the case. The application is the result of a re-investigation into the case. The report submitted today by the prosecution claims that no link could be established between Daler and the complainants in the case. It says that the claim of the complainants that they had visited Daler’s house could not be established. The report says that registers of guests are maintained at both Daler’s house and office and these does not contain the name of the complainant. It says contrary to this the name of the complainants are listed in a register maintained at the office of Daler’s brother Shamsher Mehndi. Similarly, the report notes that the date when the popstar was to have received the money from the complainants could not be corroborated. The prosecution has claimed in the application that it had also re-investigated the record pertaining to Daler’s visits abroad. It said since 1994 all members of the troupe which had gone abroad with Daler had returned back. It said passports of these troupe members had also been examined. As far as the charge of complainant Malkit Singh, who had claimed that Daler had stamped a fake visa on his passport, is concerned the prosecution noted that even this charge proved wrong against the pop singer. It said the visa photocopy does not contain the passport number of the complainant. Meanwhile, in another development it has been revealed that the orders with regard to Shamsher Mehndi’s bail two days back contain references of Daler. The order states that according to the complainant the passport along with the visa copy was handed over to Malkit Singh by Daler and not Shamsher. |
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More Benches sought for consumer
panel
Jalandhar, June 9 “Although the commission had recommended to the state government the constitution of three additional Benches to provide speedy justice to the consumers, instead of considering the same the former rejected the proposal about three weeks back without giving any reason,” Justice Brar told reporters here today. There were more than 3,500 complaints pending before the one-Bench commission and there was a need to constitute more Benches, he said. Giving more instances of the state government’s apathy towards the commission, Justice Brar said, “Although the land was already purchased by the commission to construct a building in Chandigarh and even a grant of Rs 26 lakh was released by the Centre for its construction, we have received a letter from the state government expressing inability to release funds for the construction and suggested us to surrender the allotted land.” Though the Minister of Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs announced a grant of Rs 5 lakh for the construction of the building on the day of the stone-laying ceremony performed by the Punjab Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, in October last year, neither the Central grant nor Rs 5 lakh have been released so far, he added. Asked about the reasons for such an attitude of the state government, Justice Brar hastened to add, “perhaps the commission’s denial to entertain the recommendations of politicians in the selection of members of various district consumer redressal forums has irritated the state government.” On the plight of various district forums, he revealed that in spite of the recent amendment in the Consumers Protection Act, which has the provision for constitution of consumers forums in every district, nothing has been done in this regard. In Bathinda Mansa, Jalandhar, Gurdaspur and Fatehgarh Sahib districts the presidents of the forums concerned have not been appointed, he added. |
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Midwife penalised for negligence
Moga, June 9 Mrs Neelam Rani was admitted to the clinic of midwife Manjit Sethi, who represented herself as doctor. Neelam gave birth to a male child on January 16 last year. Later, the child was
referred to a private hospital where it died after three days. —
UNI |
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Businessman abducted, SHO sent to
Police Lines
Ferozepore, June 9 Mr Arora, who had been supplying food items to different cantonments in Punjab, Haryana and other parts of country for the past 20 years, was allegedly kidnapped on June 6. But the case in this connection was registered in the police station, cantonment, on June 8 under Sections 364,148 and 149 of IPC. The residents, expressed displeasure over the deteriorating law and order situation in the town and decided to launch an agitation, if the police authorities failed to trace Mr Arora. A section of traders alleged that police was deliberately trying to protect some persons, whose involvement in this case was suspected. Sources said that the case was registered only after Mr Bhagwan Arora, a brother of Mr Darshan Lal Arora, lodged a complaint with the police in which he alleged that his brother had disappeared under mysterious circumstances from this town on June 6 after he (Mr Darshan Lal Arora) had attended a marriage in the afternoon. He also alleged that certain persons had been threatening his brothers for the past many months. He had also mentioned the names of those persons in his complaint. Police sources said that a number of persons had been rounded up for questioning. Mr Chahal could not be contacted despite repeated efforts. |
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Loan officer held on
defaulter’s complaint
Anandpur Sahib, June 9 He was yet to deposit the agreed amount with the bank. In his complaint, Mr Tarsem Lal alleged the loan officer, Mr Gurcharan Singh Sethi had asked for Rs 5000 from him for giving no-due certificate of the final payment. A team of the Vigilance Department arrested Mr Sethi and a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act was registered against him. However, the bank staff said that the amount of Rs 5000 handed over to Mr Sethi by the complainant was an instalment of his loan. |
Students’ confederation submits memorandum to VC
Patiala, June 9 The general secretary of the confederation, Mr Gurpal Singh Dhaliwal, said the authorities should introduce computer application as an optional subject. He further demanded that the varsity should introduce Punjabi as a compulsory subject in professional courses, including master in science technology, management, engineering and law. Mr Dhaliwal said the reduction of marks in Punjabi language would defeat the very purpose of establishing the university which was to promote the Punjabi language and culture. The confederation threatened to launch a statewide stir if the varsity went ahead with its proposal. Meanwhile, the Sikh Students Federation (SSF) urged the authorities to introduce computer application as an optional subject as it is a professional course and students who do not have any basic training in it would not be able to take it up at the graduate level. The Federation further added that all affiliated colleges don’t have adequate staff and equipment to teach the above mentioned subject. The federation recommended that as the subject of computer application would also be in English language, the varsity could reduce the marks of English compulsory while introducing a new subject of computer application of 50 marks. The president of the federation, Mr Sewal Singh, further said that the other alternative could be that the varsity introduces computer application as a compulsory subject in the first year while making it optional in the other two years of the course. The federation has also urged the authorities to introduce computer application as an elective subject without doing any harm to the Punjabi language. |
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Insurance firm office opened
Fatehgarh Sahib, June 9 Addressing the inaugural function, Mr Rajiv Malhan, branch supervisor, said the company had deputed 12 supervisors to initiate a comprehensive survey of rural areas and to know what the rural people wanted from the company, so that the new schemes could be formulated keeping in view the requirements and benefits of the people. Mr Parbhneet Singh, sales officer, also spoke on the occasion.
Small savings agents stage dharna
Patiala, June 9 The president of the union, Mr Om Parkash, alleged that the Deputy Postmaster refused to deposit their cash and demanded a part of commission as a bribe from them. He added that counter clerk Anju Mehta also demanded bribe for issuing the receipt. The union further alleged that if a person directly deposits the money in the post office, these officials use fake stamps of the agents and take one per cent commission from each deposit.
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