Amritsar, July 11
Even as Jathedar of Takht Damdama Sahib Giani Balwant Singh Nandgarh, Damdami Taksal chief Baba Harnam Singh Khalsa and senior Panthic leaders held a closed-door meeting with Jathedar of Akal Takht Joginder Singh Vedanti over withdrawing “Gurmatta” for holding a Sikh conclave at Ratia in Haryana, the Sant Samaj has convened a meeting at Damdama Sahib on July 19 to discuss the next course of action in the dera controversy.

Baba Harnam Singh claimed that the Sikh high priests, including Jathedar Vedanti, would attend the proposed meeting at Damdama Sahib.

It was learnt that Jathedar Nandgarh lodged his protest with Jathedar Vedanti for taking decision to withdraw the “Gurmatta” without taking him (Jathedar Nandgarh) into confidence. The unscheduled meeting was held at the residence of Jathedar Vedanti and it lasted for more than two hours.

The religious leaders tried to persuade Jathedar Vedanti to hold a march to Ratia, to which the latter refused. A section of the Sant Samaj had described the volte face by Jathedar Vedanti regarding the proposed conclave as “unprecedented” in the Sikh history.

It is believed that Jathedar Nandgarh told Jathedar Vedanti that with the withdrawal of the “Gurmatta”, the institution of Akal Takht had been denigrated.

Though Jathedar Akal Takht could take independent decision on an issue, as per Sikh traditions, he had never reversed the “Gurmatta” passed by five Sikh high priests in the past without taking all of them into confidence.

Meanwhile, the chief of Damdami Taksal said the meeting of the Sant Samaj, which was proposed to be held at Ferozepur on July 13, had been advanced to July 12.

He said Sikh leaders would meet the Ferozepur administration to withdraw cases registered against Sikhs following clashes with followers of the dera.

Chandigarh, July 11
Rejecting BIS Chahal’s plea for handing over the investigations of a case against him to the CBI, a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court today ruled that the high-profile media adviser to Punjab’s former CM Amarinder Singh has not been able to establish a strong case for the issuance of seven-day advance notice to him before his arrest in any case.

Pronouncing the orders in an open court, the Bench, comprising Justice P. Sathasivam and Justice Rajive Bhalla, also turned down his plea for quashing the orders directing the seizure of his bank accounts and lockers.

Taking up his plea alleging torture and harassment, the Bench asked the investigating agencies not to indulge in any such activity during his interrogation or during 
his custody.

“The investigating agencies are directed to strictly follow and implement the directions of the Supreme Court in D.K. Basu versus State of West Bengal. Failing compliance, the petitioner is free to point out the same then and there before the appropriate authority / forum,” the Bench added.

In their detailed judgement, the Judges ruled: “We are of the view that the petitioner has not made out a strong and prima facie case for entrusting the investigations to the CBI at this juncture. We make it clear that at the appropriate stage the petitioner is free to raise this point before the court concerned, if he is able to satisfy the same by placing acceptable material.”

Dealing with the torture issue, the Judges ruled: “It is relevant to point out that even in the first two cases, when the petitioner was remanded in police custody, the particulars furnished show that he had not raised any objection or complained about harassment or torture at the hands of the state police / vigilance bureau, though he has raised such allegations in the writ petition.”

The Judges further ruled: “With regard to relief pertaining to the quashing of the seizure of bank account / lockers, the Code of Criminal Procedure is comprehensive and encompasses all possible remedies for violation of any provision enshrined therein.

“In such a case, it is not possible for this court to interfere at this stage, that too in a writ petition. And, if the petitioner is able to substantiate that the seizure of bank account is not tenable, he may take recourse to the statutory remedy before the appropriate authority.

Speaking for the Bench, Justice P. Sathasivam added: “We are satisfied with the available material that the petitioner has not made out strong and special circumstances at this stage for directions to the State of Punjab / Vigilance Bureau for advance notice before effecting his arrest in any case. The petitioner is free to raise all available objections before the court concerned when he moves application (s) for anticipatory bail (s).

The Judge added: The request of the petitioner for quashing the order of remand dated June 10 passed by Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate / Duty Magistrate is rejected.”

Chandigarh, July 11
Wide-ranging powers of various important wings of the Punjab police have been curtailed or “streamlined” after the SAD-BJP combine was voted to power.

Near-absolute powers enjoyed by the crime wing, the security wing and the all-important intelligence wing have been “streamlined” and these will now not function in their own independent style, as was the case earlier. Each of the three wings is headed by an additional director-general of police-rank official.I PS officers, used to an independent style of functioning of their respective wings, are taking some time in getting used to it. Murmurs are doing the rounds as to how power is being “centralised and controlled”. A section of the officials says it will bring accountability and curb “insubordination”.

Importantly, in the crime wing the DGP, N.P.S. Aulakh, has ordered that no inquiries will be conducted on a suo motu basis. This wing will conduct only those inquiries which are marked to it by the DGP himself, suggested by the Punjab and Haryana high court, the human rights commission or other such bodies.

Normally, an inquiry by the crime wing of the Punjab police used to keep a person on tenterhooks and at times allegations were levelled that inquiries created a fear psychosis in the minds of people.

In the intelligence set-up the days are gone when the previous Chief Minister, Amarinder Singh, used to meet his intelligence chief on a one-to-one basis, at times bypassing the then DGP. Under the existing dispensation, exclusive meetings between Parkash Singh Badal and the present intelligence boss have been few and far between. The DGP is also kept in the loop of almost all information exchanged between the wing and the Chief Minister.

Sources said even independent intelligence units in various locations in Punjab have been asked to pass on information simultaneously of sensitive developments to the DGP. Under the previous regime the intelligence chief would get all information and then cull unimportant reports before passing on the relevant ones to the DGP. In the case of the Chief Minister certain sensitive information was conveyed direct. In the past even the SSPs would call up direct and tell the intelligence boss of sensitive developments.

State in resource mobilisation jam
Sarbjit Dhaliwal
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 11
A well-intentioned proposal mooted in his first budget speech by finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal that employees, especially senior officers, should contribute voluntarily some money--- Rs 400 to Rs 1,000 yearly--- for the premium to be paid for providing free health insurance cover to all below-the-poverty line families, has not made the desired headway. The response to the proposal has been cold from a vast section of the employees.

However, Manpreet Singh is determined to provide the health cover. At the moment his worry is to fund the Rs 5,111 crore state development plan. Besides increasing the collection of Rs 1,500 crore from VAT, revenue from which at present is about Rs 5,200 crore, Manpreet Singh is keen to mop up Rs 500 crore by way of imposition of taxes. However, he has not made up his mind on which items tax should be imposed. “ I have neither discussed nor put up any tax proposal before the Cabinet”, he adds. In other words, Punjab is facing an uphill task as far as the mobilising of additional resources is concerned to fund the plan.

Asked about increasing revenue from VAT, Manpreet Singh said the tax department was keen to adopt the Gujarat model in this regard. “ We have been told that the Gujarat government has introduced such a system of tax collection at its tax barriers that there is no scope of pilferage”, he said. Cameras had been put up at the tax barriers through which collection was monitored at various levels, he added.

Manpreet Singh’s other major worry is the additional expenditure of Rs 1,500 crore on employees during the next financial year. “ We are expecting the interim report of the Punjab pay commission in the middle of the next financial year. And as interim relief we expect an expenditure of Rs 1,500 crore which will have to be provided to the employees”, he added. When told that many employees’ organisations were expecting financial relief immediately, Manpreet Singh said that now all decisions with regard to to financial relief and related matters would be taken by the pay commission.

“ In fact, we will be requiring Rs 3,000 crore more next year to pay the employees, for increasing the size of the plan and to cope with other planned expenditure”, he said. For the next year also, the government would have to plan from now, he added.

Asked whether there was any proposal to withdraw the facility of free power to the farm sector, he refused to comment.

Asked about disinvestment in defunct government organisations, he said certain proposals had been put up in this regard. There were proposals for disinvestment in Punjab Alkalies and Puncom . However, there would be no selling of sugar mills. “ The cooperation department is keen to revive sick sugar mills”, he added.

The government was keen on the merger of certain organisations. For instance, the PSIDC could be merged with the PSIEC. By doing so, a lot of government expenditure could be curtailed. There were also several organisations working in the promotion of agriculture. Besides the mainstream agriculture department, there was the horticulture department, Punjab Agro, etc. 

New Delhi, July 11
Rejecting allegations of the Congress about political vendetta against its activists, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said today that the state government had not filed cases against members of the opposition.

Answering queries from mediapersons about the state Congress having moved the National Human Rights Commission against “victimisation” of its workers, Badal said: “It was an excuse to make a complaint against his government.”

He said no legislator had been targeted and the two cases being probed by the government were those that cropped up when the Congress was in power in the state.

Badal said the Ludhiana city centre scam case was based on revelations made during the rule of the Congress about loss of several hundred crores to the exchequer. He said the allegations against a former MLA in a murder case also relate to the period when the Akali-BJP government was not in power.

Bathinda, July 11
Dera Sacha Sauda follower Sham Sunder Bansal, who died after setting himself afire to lodge his protest against the alleged harassment of followers of the sect by Akali leaders, was cremated at the local cremation ground amid tight security.

As the situation was tense in the town, policemen and paramilitary forces were deployed at various places.

Meanwhile, SHO of the city police station Harwinder Singh Virk said a case under Section 309 of the IPC was registered against Bansal on July 8. However, the section in the case had been changed to 306 of the IPC (forcing a person to commit suicide).

He said Bansal had not levelled allegations against anyone that he was forced to commit suicide. He had mentioned in his statement that Sandhu and Sarup Chand Singla were present at the function, the SHO added.

Meanwhile, the police had to face tough time taking the vehicle carrying the body of Bansal to the cremation ground.

Earlier, followers of the dera staged a dharna in front of the vehicle carrying the body at Bansal’s house in Paras Ram Nagar. They demanded that a criminal case be registered against Akali leaders, including a former minister, for harassment of members of the sect.

They let the vehicle moved to the cremation ground after a senior functionary of the dera assured them that a criminal case had been registered against two Akali leaders.

On the way, too, hundreds of followers staged a dharna in front of the Paras Ram Nagar police post, demanding the copy of the FIR in the immolation case.

The body was cremated according to the rituals of the sect.

Chandigarh, July 11
Dr Joginder Dayal, member of the national executive of the CPI, here today urged the chief of the Dera Sacha Sauda to reciprocate in a positive manner to the decision taken by Giani Joginder Singh, Jathedar of Akal Takht, with regard to the cancellation of the Sikh convention at Ratia.

He said the dera chief should come forward to settle all issues with those who had been feeling hurt because of his certain actions. He said the dera chief should confine himself only to religious activity and should have nothing to do with politics.

“It was wrong on the part of dera management to extend open support to a particular party,” he added. “If the dera chief is interested in politics, he should come out openly into the political arena,” said Dr Dayal.

Dr Dayal has urged the Sikh clergy to withdraw the call of social boycott of dera premis. “Social boycott is not desirable in our society. For centuries, Dalits have been suffering because of their social boycott by upper classes.”

The call given for social boycott leads to serious problems in society for decades to come. It can lead to vertical divisions on the basis of several factors including religion,” he said.

Commenting on Badal government, Dr Dayal said it was a direction-less government. The state was failing on the industrial, unemployment, law and order, education and other fronts. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal is not worried to resolve these problems.

On the problem of rural indebtedness, he said, “All loans of farmers should be waived”, he said. Sick industry should be revived and the Union Government should be compelled to given industrial package to Punjab on the Himachal pattern.

He said because of unavailability of potable water, cancer was spreading in certain parts of the Malwa region. Level of toxicity in drinking water was very high, he added.

He said the oil refinery project in Punjab had been revived because of Laxmi Mittal and not because of the SAD-BJP government or the Congress party.

Dr Dayal said Punjab was being ruled by the SAD-BJP and not by the people’s government. The SAD-BJP was protecting its own activists and targeting opponents. The same was done by the previous Congress government, he said.

Bhagta Bhai Ka (Bathinda), July 11
The house of Dera Sacha Sauda follower Rajinder Pal was set on fire by miscreants here late last night. At the time of the incident all members of the family were sleeping on the roof.

Fear gripped dera followers here and in adjoining villages after the incident came to light this morning.

Rajinder and his brother have been putting up in the house for the past many years. They run separate shops in the town.

Members of the family raised an alarm before the fire spread. They, with the help of local residents, doused the fire after little effort. The miscreants sprinkled kerosene on the front doors of the house to set these on fire.

One of the members of the family told The Tribune that that when they noticed flames, they immediately extinguished it with the help of local residents.

She said though the police was informed about the incident immediately, policemen and officials visited their house this morning only. No security had been provided to them by the police, she added.

The front doors of the house, a bed and window had got damaged in the fire.

Dyalpura SHO Jagjit Singh said a case under Sections 436 and 427 of the IPC had been registered on a complaint of Rajinder.

Bathinda, July 11
Members of the Sanchar Nigam Executives Association, Bathinda SSA, comprising Bathinda and Mansa districts, today went on strike on a call by the joint forum of BSNL employees in protest against the adamant attitude of the Ministry of Telecommunication and the BSNL management for not issuing a purchase order for 45.5 million third generation mobile equipment.

District president of the association R.K. Kohli in a press note issued here alleged that the minister concerned was trying to weaken BSNL with the aim of declaring it sick and facilitating private operators to monopolise the telecommunication sector.

He said the third generation mobile technology was to be launched worldwide in the near future and the highly profit-making BSNL wanted to adopt this technology to fetch new customers in the mobile segment in India. However, the telecommunication had been opposing the proposal.

Jalandhar: Demanding upgradation of the technical system, the BSNL Employees Union held a massive dharna outside its office here on Wednesday. Employees also struck work. Payment system and repair work was also affected. Employees were protesting against the cancellation of an agreement to buy GSM 45.5 million wire system which may cause massive losses to the the organisation, said Satpal Badhan, a union member. 

Meanwhile, telecom services across the Hoshiarpur were disrupted today as, on a call of the joint forum of the BSNL Employees Union, almost all employees of the BSNL went on a day-long strike to protest against the Centre’s delay in finalising a global tender to procure 45.5 million GSM connections.

The members of the BSNL Employees Federation, led by their chief Tardeep Kumar Sharma, staged a dharna in front of the general manager’s office at Railway Mandi.

Patiala: Continuing with their agitation that began on July 5, BSNL employees of the district observed a strike today.

The agitation is being carried out on a call given by the Joint Forum of BSNL Unions and the Associations of Executives and Non-Executives, New Delhi.

They are demanding the immediate placement of purchase order for GSM lines and provision of mobile phones to customers.

The joint forum convener said the authorities had failed to place a purchase order for 45.5 million GSM lines (2G+3G), the absence of which has so far resulted in losses worth hundreds of crore of rupees to the BSNL.

He added that if mobile connections were not issued on public demand, the loss of revenue for two months alone would come to Rs 110 crore.

And if the purchase order for the new equipment was not placed immediately, it would lead to a loss of Rs 55 crore every month, he added.

During a rally at the gate of the head post office, the union leaders highlighted the anti-employee attitude of the management and that of the central government. They alleged that they were neither interested in expanding the customer base nor developing the organisation.

Addressing the rally, district secretary SNEA Sarabjit Singh Mokha said communication minister A. Raja was deliberately delaying the procurement the GSM equipment.

The convener of the forum warned the BSNL management and the government of going on an indefinite strike if their demands were not fulfilled.

Amritsar, July 1
The four gunmen of former Congress MLA Jasbir Singh Dimpa at present in judicial custody in connection with the murder of an Akali worker on the eve of Beas Assembly elections, were allegedly tortured by the police during police remand.

Yesterday they were remanded in police custody for one day in connection with a theft case and presented at the court of Jaswinder kaur Shimar, sub divisional judicial magistrate Baba Bakala today.

Sandeep Gorsi, counsel for the gunmen told The Tribune here late in the evening one of the gunmen Pawan Kumar was tortured in police custody and he had to be admitted to Baba Bakala civil hospital on the orders of SDJM. According to sources he was brought to the hospital in a wheelchair. Another gunman head constable Sarbjit Singh also rceived six injuries as per the medico- legal reports of four gunmen presented before the court by the counsel.

All of four gunmen have been sent in judicial custody till July 24.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court had taken suo motu notice of the torture of Jasbir Singh Dimpa former Congress MLA during police custody.

The counsel said the four policemen had allegedly been framed by the Beas police for stealing a truck on the basis of the so called ‘extra judicial confession’ before Kuldip Singh of the Baba Bakala area at Rayya bus stand on January 15, a case of which was registered under Section 379 of the IPC against unknown persons in June last year.

Bathinda, July 11
More than one million people die due to tobacco-related diseases in India every year and one-third of the total number of cases of tuberculosis pertain to smokers.

Stating this here today at the meeting of heads of different schools of Bathinda district held at Teachers’ Home, Amrit Sethi, president, IMA, Punjab, said children in the families of smokers were exposed to the dangers of lung and heart diseases due to passive smoking.

He said the IMA had initiated an exercise to collect the signatures of 45,000 students on a petition to be sent to the President of India to help impose a ban on the use of all types of tobacco. 

Amritsar, July 11
Members of the Cantonment Board Employees Union today held a protest against the Army authorities for its failure to provide any compensation to the victims of a bomb blast in the Army dump area last month. Four employees were injured, including two seriously, in the blast and one of the seriously injured had later succumbed to his injuries.

The union alleged that Class IV employees and their families were being harassed in the name of investigations. They urged the Army authorities and the defence ministry to provide suitable compensation to the families of victims, besides a government job to the next of kin of the deceased.

The employees threatened to go on strike if the authorities failed to take necessary action in this regard. They said they would also approach the defence ministry for the acceptance of their demands.

It is pertinent to mention here that four safai karamcharis -- Paramjit Singh (40), Baldev Singh (50), Uttam Chand (54) and Ajit Singh (45) -- of the Army Cantonment Board were injured in a high intensity blast in a garbage dump in the Army cantonment area situated on the Amritsar-Wagah bypass on June 16. Paramjit Singh and Baldev Singh were critically injured. Paramjit Singh later succumbed to his injuries in hospital while Baldev Singh lost his right arm and right leg in the blast.

Rajpura, July 11
A state-level seminar on World Population Day was organised at Holy Angels School here today. The seminar was presided over by Patiala deputy commissioner P.S. Grewal.

Grewal said burgeoning population was posing a major threat to the nation and if it continued to grow at the current rate it could lead to serious problems.

He said the total population of the country stood at over 106 crore and 44,000 children were being born every day.

Patiala civil surgeon Usha Dhingra and other senior functionaries of the district administration also addressed the seminar.

The seminar was earlier to be presided over by Punjab minister Luxmi Kanta Chalwa but she could not make it to the function. — TNS

Fatehgarh Sahib, July 11
One person was killed and four others seriously injured when a jeep rammed into a truck on National Highway No. 1, near Sadhugarh village, this afternoon.

According to eyewitnesses, the accident took place when the jeep rammed into truck from the rear.Those travelling in the jeep were bringing back the body of Gulzar Singh, a head constable with NCC Battalion 25 who died recently while being posted in Uttar Pradesh.

The eyewitnesses said the driver of the jeep lost control of the vehicle and hit the truck. The deceased was identified as Arshad, a resident of Mukerian Kalan village.

Those injured were jeep driver Mohammad Sakoor, a resident of Shajahanpur, UP, Subedar Karam Singh and his wife Rajinder Kaur of Jalandhar and Dewan Singh of Makrana.

Chandigarh, July 11
Was there an attempt by the state of Punjab to mislead the Supreme Court in the special leave petition (SLP) filed by it against the orders granting interim bail to former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh? The Punjab and Haryana High Court will get an answer to the question on Monday when the investigation officer in the case files an affidavit.

He was today directed by Justice Ranjit Singh Randhawa of the High Court to give details in the affidavit about the material in the SLP that was not on the record of the case when the interim bail order was passed by the High Court.

The state, through the SLP, had challenged the grant of bail to several accused by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, including Capt Amarinder Singh.

Taking up the bail issue this afternoon, Justice Randhawa observed in the jam-packed open court that he would refer to the matter in his orders, if an attempt had been made to mislead the Supreme Court. The Judge added that he would also take into consideration whether any attempts had been made to overreach the courts.

The Judge also asked Punjab’s advocate-general Hardev Singh Mattewal to assist in court in deciding the parameters required to be taken into consideration while granting anticipatory or even regular bail. Justice Randhawa also asked the advocate-general to inform the court whether the former Chief Minister was arrested and released on bail.

Earlier during the hearing, Mattewal, stating the stand of the state, said Capt Amarinder Singh was required for investigations. He added that anticipatory bail was for limited period for giving the regular courts sufficient time to decide the matter. In an effort to substantiate the contentions, Mattewal read out in the courtroom various Supreme Court judgments in the matter.

Counsel for Capt Amarinder Singh, on the other hand, argued that the former Chief Minister had joined the investigations and had handed over the required document as such his custody was not required by the investigating agencies. 

Muktsar, July 11
With the arrest of one person, the city police has busted a gang involved in blackmailing residents of this district by employing a unique modus operandi.

Police sources said with the arrest of Rohit Chabbra, alias Sonu, a local resident, the city police found out that a seven-member gang had been blackmailing businessmen and employees of the area by first “offering them a girl” and subsequently video recording them when they were in a compromising position with her.

SHO, city police station, Manvinderbir Singh said the accused would trap the victims in their net by blackmailing them with those videos.

He said the other accused had been identified as Tajinder Singh Dhuria (a supposed press reporter), Gurlal Singh Lalli (who claimed he was chairman of the Anti-Corruption Bureau), Happy, Vikas, Babbu and a girl from Kotkapura, whose identity was still unknown.

He said the crime was detected when a local resident, who had a catering business, fell into their trap. The accused demanded Rs 2.5 lakh from their victim to hush up the matter. However, as the man could only give Rs 80,000 to the accused, they kept on demanding more money from him.