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SGPC blamed for visa denial
Amritsar, June 13 However,
at an eleventh hour the SGPC sent another list of devotees to get
special permission that included the names of the high priests which
then could not be entertained for want of necessary formalities.
However, Mr Parmjit Singh Sarna and Mr Harwinder Singh Sarna, presidents
of Shiromani Akali Dal (Delhi) and Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management
Committee, respectively, claimed that they had verified from senior top
officials of Pakistan that the Pakistan Embassy did not get the
passports of the Jathedars at all. While quoting Mr Izhar-ul-Hassan,
Additional Secretary, Pakistan Evacuee Property Trust Board, the Sarna
brothers said that Pakistan had decided to give liberal visas to about
5000 Sikh pilgrims. “Mr Hassan told me that there was no question of
denying visas to Jathedars,” they said. Meanwhile, it is learnt that Dr Pritpal Singh, president American Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, and some radical leaders had some heated verbal exchanges with visiting SGPC and SAD (Badal) leaders for not sending the passports of Sikh high priests to Pakistan in time. They said that the Sikh sangat was eagerly waiting for the Jathedars on this mega event. But they could not visit Pakistan due to mismanagement on the part of the SGPC. However, Mr Parkash Singh Badal and 35 other pilgrims who returned from Pakistan today expressed satisfaction over the arrangements made by the PSGPC. He said the PSGPC and the Government of Pakistan had made proper arrangements on this occasion. He said the SGPC had offered to construct a serai of 400 rooms near Gurdwara Dera Sahib, Lahore, to mark the 400th martyrdom anniversary of Guru Arjan Dev . He said if Government of Pakistan failed to allot the land for proposed serai, the SGPC would purchase the land from its own funds. Meanwhile, about 2000 pilgrims went to Pakistan in four special trains today. The jatha was low-key affair since it was led by Bibi Bhupinder Kaur Mehlon, a little known SGPC member.
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Pak High Commission denies refusal of visas
New Delhi, June 13 A spokesperson for the commission said Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had given the green light for allowing 5,000 pilgrims to visit Lahore. In the past, it had allowed only 1,000 pilgrims. Considering that it was an emotive religious matter, the spokesman clarified that all request for visas were routed through the Ministry of External Affairs which had forwarded about 2,800 applications. The commission gave visas to all applicants, barring 400 who failed to produce their passports. Even though the commission was closed over the weekend, its staff worked to process the applications. It also gave visas to those who approached them directly.
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Left parties’ activists burn PM’s
effigy
Amritsar, June 13 Mr Vijay Mishra, state secretariat member, CPM, said that all the political parties in the country were agitating against the rise in petroleum prices. He said if the government did not roll back the hike, the rates of transport fares, cereals, peas and other commodities would also increase. Meanwhile, Mr Ratan Singh Randhawa, district secretary, CPM, in another protest criticised the UPA government for the price hike. Hoshiarpur: On the call given by the Left parties, activists of the CPM, the CPI, the Janwadi, Istri Sabha and the Lok Bhalai Party led by Mr Gurmesh Singh, district secretary, CPM, Principal Joginder Singh, district secretary, CPI, Bibi Rajinder Kaur Chokha, general secretary, Punjab Janwadi Istri Sabha, and Mr Ajit Singh Dhami, general secretary, Lok Bhalai Party held a massive rally in front of the police station at Hariana, 15 km from here, and blocked vehicular traffic on the Hoshiarpur-Dasuya road in protest against the recent increase in the prices of petroleum products and to pressurise the UPA government to withdraw the hike in petrol and diesel prices. Addressing the rally, Mr Gurmesh Singh, Principal Joginder Singh and others criticised the UPA government for the recent increase of Rs 4 and Rs 2 in the rates of petrol and diesel, respectively. Reports of rallies and blockade of vehicular traffic were received from Garhshankar and Mukerian towns. Sangrur: A large number of members and activists of the CPI, the CPM and the Lok Bhalai Party (LBP) on Tuesday held a protest march through the town against the hike in the prices of the petrol and diesel. They also raised slogans demanding withdrawal of hike in the prices of the petrol and diesel. The protesters also held a rally in front of the office of the Deputy Commissioner. A deputation of the leaders of the protesting parties also submitted a memorandum, to the Deputy Commissioner. The protesters were addressed, among others, by Mr Achhra Singh, a former CPI MLA from Dhuri, Mr Bant Singh Namol, district secretary of the CPM, Mr Bhup Chand Channo, state president of the All-India Khet Mazdoor Union, Mr Ram Singh Sohian, state vice-president of CITU, Punjab, Mr Mehma Singh, district secretary of the CPI; Mr Kalicharan Kaushik, a member of the district secretariat of the CPM, Mr Baldev Singh Narike, a national vice- president of the LBP, and Dr A.S. Mann, district president of the medical wing of the
LBP.
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All is well on Quark front, says Punjab
Govt
Mohali, June 13 Mr Paraminder Singh Sehgal quit as the Quark City MD yesterday giving wake to speculations about the future of the company. Mr Sehgal’s leaving the company had been preceded by the company having retrenched some employees and still some others resigning. Many of the posts vacated by these employees had subsequently not been filled. Interestingly, Mr Sehgal represented Quark City at a crucial meeting yesterday in New Delhi with the Government of India’s Department of Industries and Commerce regarding the granting of Special Economic Zone status to Quark City. “With all formalities now complete, the GoI officials have given the go ahead to the company to operate as an SEZ’, said Mr Agarwal. Earlier, Quark Media House had sold off its product ‘Quark commerce’ to Ind Sigma Infotech, a US-based company with its office in Cochin. Since many employees associated with the development of the product working in the commerce division were shifted to the new company as part of the sale deal, this too had given rise to rumours regarding the survival of Quark’s two ventures in Mohali: Quark Media House and Quark City in their present form. Stating that all was well with the company, Mr Agarwal added that Mr Fred Ebrahimi, Quark City Chairman, had invested over Rs 200 crore in the project and it was going on as scheduled. “For us it does not matter who is leaving or joining the company as long as the company is moving on as they promised,” said Mr Agarwal. “There has been a delay in the project but that was due to the fact that there were certain permissions pending from the GOI regarding the SEZ status. Quark City has recently imported goods and machinery worth crores for construction and a notification regarding waiver of customs following grant of SEZ status was being awaited,” he said adding that the project should be back on track now. Recently, the Industries Department had allowed the Quark City to increase its floor area ratio from 2 to 3, which would mean that the company could construct many additional floors. Other than the 60 per cent of the area which would be used as industrial, Quark City would be housing a residential area and a commercial zone. A hotel, a club house, recreation facilities, multiplexes and malls have also been planned within the Quark City. Stating that Quark City was never an IT project, Mr Agarwal added that the whole idea was to encourage the development of an industrial park that could attract large IT players to the township. “And we have succeeded in that aim,” said Mr Agarwal.
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PSEB to have stake in Haryana N-power
plant
Patiala, June 13 Mr Y. S. Ratra, Chairman, PSEB, said this here yesterday . He has communicated this offer to the Chairman, Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC) . Mr Ratra said besides this offer , the PSEB had been making other efforts to increase its generation . He said that the board had signed a MOU with the GVK Company for setting up 500 MW thermal plant at Goindwal Sahib. He added that GVK had sent its Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) and the same was lying with the Regulator to decide the rates, at which the PSEB was supposed to buy power from the GVK. The PPA would remain valid for 30 years. He said that the PSEB had also received bids from about 16 to 17 private companies for setting up 1000 MW thermal plant under a different kind of arrangements. He said that under the new arrangement, the private companies could set up thermal plants anywhere in the country ,but they would have to sign a PPA with the PSEB first. Apart from it, the PSEB had taken up of setting up 168 MW hydroelectric project on the Shahpur Kandi canal project. The project would be executed with the help of the Irrigation Department, Punjab. A formal beginning for the implementation of this project would be made shortly. Mr Ratra said that BHEL had been assigned the task of setting up two thermal units of 250 MW each at Lehra Mohabbat in Bathinda district in its stage 2 plan, had been directed to put first unit on generation by the end of January 2007 and second by the end of March 2007. The PSEB had been working to set up another thermal plant with the help of National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) from which the PSEB would get about 1500 MW. He said that connections of certain farmers who had not paid bills for the free power period had been disconnected.
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Top US conservationist for Indo-Pak initiative on material heritage
Chandigarh, June 13 In Chandigarh today to brainstorm on the issue, Dr Paul Taylor, Director, Asian Cultural History Programme, Smithsonian Institution and now the face of America’s growing interest in Punjab’s culture, told The Tribune that Punjab had lost a great deal of heritage and archival material due to employment of detrimental technologies. He, in fact, suggested that the conservation of archival material should be developed as a joint project between India and Pakistan. Significant series of British Government reports and records pertaining to Punjab’s political and cultural history were split at the time of Partition. Many such divisions of complete sets of objects and museum collections were based on cursory examination. Dr Taylor observed, “Till date no efforts have been made to fill the gaps in these series of historic documents by providing the missing materials in microfilm or digitized format. These gaps must be filled now and microfilming of documents should be done both in India and Pakistan. Later the copies of such microfilmed documents should be shared.” The suggestion has been listed as an important objective of the conference on development of cultural preservation initiative in Punjab, which started in Chandigarh today. The event seeks to highlight new conservation technologies for preservation, research, exhibition and publication of priceless cultural heritage of Punjab. It is being sponsored by the Indo-US Science and Technology Forum. Among other crucial driving factors behind the initiative of the Smithsonian Institution and the Anandpur Sahib Foundation is near total lack of perspective in conserving material heritage in Punjab. A host of rare manuscripts have been lost to heat lamination - a process fatal to the artwork, which will start showing signs of deteriorating three years after it has been heat laminated. Similar is the story of oil paintings which form part of the Amritsar school. Many such paintings are being destroyed due to the use of technologies that do more harm than good. Dr Taylor is worried, as he has seen the deteriorating state of artworks at Khalsa College, Amritsar, where, as also the fading glory of limestone paintings at Quila Mubarak in Patiala. He is also keen to microfilm the Tribune archives housed by Khalsa College Library in Amritsar. “The Tribune archives are priceless pieces but are in poor shape. Most of the oil paintings of Amritsar school are also cracking due to improper conservation technologies. Lime stone paintings at Quila Mubarak are withering due to bio-deterioration. Our experts are here to show the way forward from here. It is sad that Punjab’s material heritage should be at high risk, despite the availability of new technologies for preserving, documenting, studying and improving access to that heritage.” Today Dr Taylor heard some Sikh scholars question the relevance of Khalsa Heritage Complex in context to Anandpur’s indigenous landscape. The debate centred on the ethnic richness of the complex built by world famous architect Moshe Safdie. “It is important for the Anandpur Sahib Foundation to find a mission that connects to the people of Punjab. Once that is done, our collaboration will find a greater purpose,” said Dr Taylor.
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BSP goes full steam against govt
Hoshiarpur, June 13 Addressing the rally, Mr Narinder Kashyap, national general secretary of the BSP, alleged that in its 51-month regime in Punjab, the Congress government had failed on all fronts. Punjab was reeling under the dictatorial regime of Capt Amarinder Singh’s government and there was no democracy in the state. Keeping in view the voice of people against the functioning of state government and its anti-Dalit attitude, the BSP had adopted the path of agitation, he said. Mr Kashyap said all statements of ministers regarding free supply of power to the Dalits were far from the reality as none of the Dalits was getting free power supply till date. He strongly criticised the recent increase in the prices of petrol and diesel and said it would enhance the already skyrocketing prices of essential commodities. He said the 85th amendment to the Constitution had not been implemented by the state government. Unemployment was increasing day by day and the government had not prepared any plan to provide jobs to the youths. Mr Kashyap blamed the state government for promoting privatisation of various government establishments. Loans to Dalits, poor and marginal farmers had not been waived. Besides, 50 per cent subsidy on foodgrains had not been provided to the SCs/STs, he alleged. Fees had also been increased in schools and in higher educational institutions. Corruption was prevailing everywhere, he said. Mr Kashyap appealed to the public to dethrone Capt Amarinder Singh. Mr Avtar Singh Karimpuri, president, BSP, Punjab, Mr Onkar Singh Jhamat, Mr Bhagwan Singh Chohan, Mr Hargopal, ex-MLA, and many others strongly criticised Capt Amarinder Singh for his unfounded claims on various issues being advertised in a section of media. Later, they presented a memorandum to the Governor, Punjab, through the Deputy Commissioner, Hoshiarpur, in which they alleged that Capt Amarinder Singh had not implemented SC/ST demands.
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Power house trips as man touches line
Pathankot, June 13 Sources here said Manjit Singh today at 8 am went to the roof of the hospital to adjust an iron sheet. The iron sheet came in contact with 132 KV line passing close to the roof of the hospital. Manjit Singh got burns. Due to short-circuiting caused by high tension wire equipment of the hospital was also damaged. Manjit Singh received 90 per cent burns. He was shifted to Amritsar where his condition is stated to be serious. SDE PSEB Mastan Singh responsible for the maintenance of high tension wire admitted generation at Joginder Nagar power house tripped due to a worker of KD eye hospital coming in contact with 132 KV line. He said though the line was maintained generation remained suspended for hours. It is second case of electrocution in one month in Pathankot due illegal constructions and poor maintenance of high tension line in the town. On May 18 Radha (5) was electrocuted in Nehru Nagar locality. Her leg touched an electric pole in the street. The iron pole had current in it and it electrocuted her. The PSEB authorities here have failed here to prevent encroachments under high power lines and it poses threat to the life of residents. Houses and commercial establishments have been constructed by people right under the 132 KV line of the PSEB passing through the city. As per electricity rules no construction can be carried under 132 KV lines. However, the houses and shops can be seen touching the lines. In many cases even towers supporting high tension power lines have been taken within the premises. Marriage place owners have taken towers supporting high tensions in their premises. Synthetic tents are erected close to the power lines and poles which can lead to tragedy. The authorities of the PSEB said they had given legal notice to the encroachers and if any accident takes place the responsibility would be on the encroachers. However, sources said that the PSEB authorities were not serious about removing encroachments. They issued notices just to save their skin. No action was taken to remove the encroachments. The 132 KV power lines passing through Pathankot was also technically sensitive. It is vital part of the northern gird as it connects the Joginder Nagar power house with rest of the grid. Any damage to it can cause loss of generation worth crores. The PSEB authorities also said they had submitted a complaint in this regard to the police. However, police officials said they had not received any complaint.
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MC told to remove encroachments
Bathinda, June 13 Chairing the meeting of the district grievances committee here, the minister expressed his discontent with the working of the MC and asked its officials to enforce his orders within the next 15 days. He said the panel members had been raising issues pertaining to the MC time and again, in view of which he announced a special meeting to review the MC working after a fortnight. He directed the Deputy Commissioner to call PUDA, water supply and sewerage officials to the meeting. Earlier, members of the committee strongly raised the issue of encroachments on the parks. The minister ordered the District Food and Supply Controller to conduct surprise checks at petrol stations and submit report in this regard to the Deputy Commissioner and his Chandigarh office. The demand for appointing a senior PCS officer to the post of Municipal Commissioner was also raised at the meeting. Mr K.K. Sharma took up the matter of an illegally raised school on PUDA land in Phase 3, following which the minister ordered its demolition within seven days. He also asked the SSP to register a case against the encroachers. Replying a query of members, he directed the MC officials to challan those operating their dairies within the city limits. The minister also sanctioned a grant of about Rs 14 crore for the district under the Punjab Nirman Programme, besides releasing another Rs 2.44 crore for providing nutritious diet to children. Markfed Chairman H.S. Jassi, MLAs Mr Gurjant Singh Kuttiwal, Mr Jagdeep Singh Nakai and Mr Gurpreet Singh Kangar, Deputy Commissioner Rahul Bhandari and SSP Varinder Kumar were also present at the meeting.
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NGO decries move to increase SC quota
Hoshiarpur,
June 13 In a press statement released here, Dr Kuldip Singh, media manager of the NEF, said this was a dangerous move because it would not only lead to further raising of social tensions but was also against the National Population Policy. If implemented, it would mean that those sections of the societies, adopting the National Family Planning Programme, would be made to suffer while those defying the family planning and responsible for population explosion would be rewarded, he stressed. The NEF appealed to the PM to rein in his ministers from shooting off their mouths without realising the consequences. It
was obvious that Ms Meira Kumar didn’t want to lag in the rat race
started by HRD Minister Arjun Singh to be the champion of Dalit cause,
Dr Kuldip Singh said. That’s why, she had been making threatening
voices about reservations in the private sector and now this latest
political gimmick of enhanced reservations for SC/STs based on
population increase, the media manager said. If they were so
concerned about the welfare of the downtrodden then they should provide
them free quality education upto secondary level and strive to remove
poverty — the biggest curse. The NEF said if the mistake of increasing reservation for SC/STs from 12.5 per cent to 15 per cent in 1970 on similar basis had not been committed, their population might have stabilised. This step would also send wrong signals to other communities to increase their population to seek more share in the pie and if everybody starts following this scheme then the National Family Planning Programme would derail with disastrous consequences, Dr Kuldip Singh said.
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BJP protest against land preservation Act
Hoshiarpur, June 13 While
addressing the gathering outside the DC’s office Mr Khanna said the
PLPA was aimed to check soil erosion due to rains. But surprisingly even
after the Independence, then re-organisation of states in 1966, still
Punjab were being governed by it. At Dasuya, Amarjit Singh Shahi, president, Kisan Morcha, Mukerian district, said even if the state government decided to implement the Act, most the land of 470 villages would be excluded from the provision of the Act. However, the environmentalists, reacting to BJP move, said that the party just had a political agenda.
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Durgiana panel ex-chief seeks
protection
Amritsar, June 13 Mr Surinder Arjun, former president of the DMC, in telegrams to President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Human Rights Organisation has urged to save his life from the present office-bearers of the committee. Mr Arjun had also written letters to the Deputy Commissioner, the SSP and the SP (City) for registering cases against six office-bearers of the committee, Mr Harnam Dass Arora, Mr Sat Pal Mahajan, Mr Ram Gopal Mehra, Mr Om Parkash Kalia, Mr Ramesh Sharma, and Mr Ramesh Sharma (advocate). Mr Arjun had alleged yesterday that as he accompanied the process server of the court to serve the summons on the office-bearers in Durgiana Temple the accused used abusive and filthy language and manhandled him. The next date of hearing has been fixed for June 14.
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AC buses from all dists to Chandigarh soon
Ferozepore, June 13 Mr
Kaypee said the government would purchase 200 new buses for Punjab
Roadways, apart from another 100 buses for the PRTC.
— TNS
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Another victim of dowry
Bathinda, June 13 Police sources said the in-laws of the victim were allegedly harassing her for dowry. Fed up with their rising demands she took this extreme step. Sources said the deceased, Pardeep Kaur, was married to Atma Singh on February 9. Sources adeed a few weeks after her marriage her in-laws started harassing her to bring more dowry. She also complained about it to her parents. Unable to bear the trauma anymore, she allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself from a ceiling fan last evening. Her father, Darshan Singh, today lodged a complaint with the police in this regard. The police has sent her body for postmortem examination. A case has also been registered against her husband Atma Singh, father-in-law Uttam Singh and mother-in-law Charanjeet Kaur under Sections 304-B and 34 of the IPC.
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3 Nihangs booked for bid to frame rivals
Bathinda, June 13 Sources said a few days back Harjinder Kaur had lodged a complaint with the police that four followers of Baba Santa Singh had raped her. The police had also recorded her statement after her medical examination. However, the case took a new turn yesterday when the same woman spilled the beans before the Talwandi Sabo police and stated that no such incident took place. She alleged that Sukhdev Nihang, Labh Singh and Shamsher Singh, abducted her in a Tata Sumo and pressurised her to lodge a false complaint of rape against some followers of Baba Santa Singh. They also forced her to sign a false affidavit, which they later produced before the police at the district headquarters. Taking serious note of her charges, the police has booked all three of them.
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Youths resort to firing
Pathankot, June 13 The SSP, Gurdaspur, Mr Paramraj
Singh Umranangal, said the three youths from Pathankot — Sushil
Mahajan, Ajit Mahajan and Gullu — along with their two unidentified
accomplices went to DP Residency Hotel. They took drinks at the bar.
They had an altercation with the dance troop at the hotel which led to
the firing. A case under Section 336 of the IPC and the Arms Act has
been registered.
— TNS
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Three kids missing
Kharar, June 13 According to the police, the three of them, who were in their teens, told their parents that they were going out to play but did not return home. All three are residents of Dashmesh Nagar here. The police said they had appeared in the matriculation examination, the results of which were declared recently. The students reported missing are Balwinder Singh, Harmandeep Singh and Jaspreet Singh.
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Tribune Special
Chandigarh, June 13 Informed official sources said the result of the test, which would be held in Delhi, Jalandhar and Patiala simultaneously, would be announced within two days after the test. The counselling for admission would be held on July 19 and 20. Classes would start on a temporary campus at the old PWD Headquarters in Patiala. The PUDA authorities concerned in Patiala had been directed to renovate the temporary campus building by the end of July to enable the authorities concerned to start classes in the first week of August. Mr Narinderjit Singh, an IAS officer, holding the charge of Secretary, Higher Education, has been officiating as the Vice-Chancellor of the university.However, search is on to for a legal personality to take over as the Vice-Chancellor.The Registrar is also to be appointed in the near future. For teaching social sciences, the teaching faculty has been taken on deputation from various Government colleges till regular appoints are made. As far as appointments in the law faculty are concerned, the process would be completed before the beginning of the academic session. The RGNUL will function on the pattern of National Law School, Bangalore, one of the renowned law institution in the country. The need to provide quality education in law has been felt for long by the Union Law Ministry keeping in view the falling standards of law education in most of the universities in the country. The setting up of the RGNUL is a part of that process. It will be the eighth such law institution in the country. The girls hostel of the State College of Education will be used to accommodate girl students taking admission. The boys hostel of this college will be used for male students. However, a committee under the Chairmanship of the Deputy Commissioner of Patiala has been set up to find a suitable site to built the new campus . About 30 acres of land will be required for the campus. Rs 2 crore will be released by the state government soon to make the university functional from the current academic year. On March 17, this year, the Punjab Assembly had passed the Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Punjab, Bill, 2006, to establish an exclusive university to impart legal education in the state. The setting up of the university is to cost Rs 60 crore. The capital cost on the project as well as the maintenance grant will be shared by the Punjab and the Union Government on a 50-50 basis. There will be provision for distant and continuing legal education in the university. The Chief Justice of India, or his nominee, who will be a senior Judge of the Supreme Court, will be the Visitor of the university. The Visitor, when present, will preside over the convocation of the university and the meetings of the General Council. The Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court will be the Chancellor of the university and, in his absence, the acting Chief Justice of the high court will discharge the functions of the Chancellor. The General Council will be the supreme authority of the university. Its chairman will be the Chancellor of the university. Among other members, the council will include the Attorney-General of India, the Chairman of the Bar Council of India, the Chief Secretary of Punjab, the Advocate-General of Punjab, the Chairman of the Punjab and Haryana Bar Council, the Legal Remembrance of Punjab.
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