Villagers threaten stir against NFL
NANGAL, July 8 — Villagers of Bhatoli, Basdehra, Rampur Sani, Mehatpur, Kalsera and Bhabore Sahib villages have threatened to launch an agitation against the local unit of the National Fertilisers Ltd. authorities if any attempt is made by it to take over the village land. In a memorandum to the Punjab Chief Minister through Mr Madan Mohan Mittal, Food and Civil Supplies Minister, Punjab, who represents the constituency, the villagers have urged Mr Badal to personally intervene in the matter.

When patients are left in the lurch
BATHINDA, July 8 — The assignment of special duties to the doctors during the visits of VIPs in the district has adversely affected the work at local civil hospital.

College teachers' protest on July 16
CHANDIGARH, July 8 — Will the issue of lowering of retirement age of the teaching staff of non-government aided colleges in Punjab snowball into a controversy or end as a storm in a teacup?

PSEB revives VDS for consumers
PATIALA, July 8 — The Punjab State Electricity Board today announced the reintroduction of a voluntary disclosure scheme for domestic, commercial and agriculture consumers to know the exact connected load coming on the PSEB system for proper load management.

Bodies of three teenagers found
GIDDERBAHA (Muktsar), July 8 — The local police has recovered the bodies of three teenagers of the town who had been missing since May 25 from a private godown here.

Dismissal of SHO sought
AMRITSAR, July 8 — Tarn Taran police has allegedly "abducted" a woman and an old man from their respective houses in Amritsar and kept them in illegal custody. Both were seen at Sarhali police station where they were allegedly harassed and humiliated. However, their whereabouts were not known yet.

BJP govt not "equipped" to take decisions
JALANDHAR, July 8 — The All India Shiromani Akali Dal has demanded the formation of a national government headed by the Vice-President, to deal with the ongoing Kargil crisis effectively.

Spurious motor oil racket busted
JALANDHAR, July 8 — Jalandhar police has busted a spurious oil racket and arrested two persons after a huge quantity of substandard motor oil was seized.

Minister refutes patwaris' claim
BATALA, July 8 — All Deputy Commissioners in Punjab have been directed to get 'pardon affidavits' from striking revenue patwaris before allowing them to join duties in their respective districts.

1 held for selling rail tickets
JALANDHAR, July 8 — The railway police has busted a racket involving the selling and purchasing of railway tickets illegally and recovered 52 tickets worth Rs 32,000 from Manoj Kumar Puri.

Acts of omission, commission by Tohra
SGPC chief urged to order probe
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 8 — Continuing its orchestrated tirade against the ousted SGPC president, Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra, both by the ruling faction of the Shiromani Akali Dal as well as the members of the SGPC executive and general house, another salvo was fired today against him.

Nearly half-a-dozen members of the SGPC executive and the general house met today and demanded from the SGPC President Bibi Jagir Kaur, to institute an enquiry against the corruption and acts of omission and commission committed during the tenure of Mr Tohra in the SGPC, "which had become his personal domain with sychophants ruling the roots."

Although his term as SGPC chief Mr Tohra treated the SGPC wherewithal for his personal glorification and to further his own political interests. Consequently, the SGPC became a den of corruption, the statement released by the SGPC members has alleged.

The SGPC members have also commented upon the replies of 10 MLAs submitted in response to "show-cause" notices and believe the crafty reply was at the behest of Mr Tohra. It tantamounted to confusing the issue, moreover, the intended purpose was to sabotage the ruling party from within through his loyal MLAs. The aim was also to save the 10 MLAs from being proceeded against.

The timing of the meeting is such when Mr Tohra has alleged that SAD President and Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, had a farm house in the USA. A legal notice has already been served on him on behalf of the Chief Minister by three of his close confidants, describing the allegations as defamatory.

The SAD Political Affairs Committee is to meet here on July 11. There is growing demand within the party as well as the SGPC to take action against the MLAs, etc, for their being party to the formation of a parallel Sarb Hind SAD formed by Mr Tohra. Incidentally, Mr Tohra is abroad these days, ostensibly to collect funds for the new political outfit.

The signatories to the statement released to the press are: Mr Mal Singh Ghuman, Mr Sucha Singh Langah, Mr Joginder Singh Panjrath, Mr Satnam Singh Bhai Rupa, Mr Jogas Singh Phaguwal, Mr Suba Singh Dabwali, Mr Raghujit Singh Virk, Mr Kirpal Singh Badungar, Mr Zora Singh Mann, Mrs Kamlesh Kaur, Mrs Tejinder Kaur Setia, Mr Kirpal Singh Khirnia, Mr Makhan Singh Nangal, Mr Mohinder Singh Diwana, Mr Dhian Singh Jharmari, Mr Rattan Singh Alorhan, Mr Ranjit Singh Sanur, and Mr Jarnail Singh Aulakh.

Masses behind Badal: Barnala
Tribune News Service

BATHINDA, July 8 — The Union Chemical and Fertiliser Minister, Mr Surjeet Singh Barnala, said today that floating of a new Akali Dal by the former SGPC president, Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra, would not affect the prospects of the SAD-BJP candidates in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Addressing a press conference here, he claimed that people were with the SAD (Badal) and the new party of Mr Tohra would not get any mandate from the electorate.

When asked whether there was any possibility of a compromise between Mr Badal and Mr Tohra to put up a united fight against the Congress in the coming elections, Mr Barnala vehemently denied any such possibility. He added that he had also tried his best to make a compromise between Mr Badal and Mr Tohra.

In response to another query, he said the foreign origin of Mrs Sonia Gandhi, President of the AICC, had been made an election issue by a senior Congress leader, who later left the party. Now as it had become an issue so the Akalis would also use it in their election campaign.

He said there was no need for convening a special session of the Rajya Sabha to discuss the Kargil issue. The Indian Government had been handling the situation in an effective manner and had succeeded in isolating Pakistan in the world.

The minister said he would look into the matter of increase in manufacturing licence fee of pesticides from Rs 500 to 20,000 per product and selling pesticide licence fee from Rs 300 to 7500 by his ministry.

He claimed that adequate quantity of DAP fertiliser and urea had been arranged for the growing season due to begin in September.

Later, Mr Barnala laid the foundation stone of a pesticide formulation plant being set up by Hindustan Insecticides Limited (HIL) at the Industrial Growth Centre here.

PAU research work in doldrums
From Sarbjit Singh
Tribune News Service

LUDHIANA, July 8 — Financial crisis bedevilling Punjab Agriculture University has derailed the research work in agriculture and allied fields on the campus and university's research farms.

This is perhaps first in its more than four-decade-long history that PAU, which has been duly credited by international agriculture scientists community with playing a major role in bringing about Green Revolution in the country, is facing the worst kind of financial crisis.

The Punjab Government has been blamed by all concerned for the prevailing sorry state of affairs on the financial front in the university. A senior functionary of the university said no one had thought a premier institution like the PAU would be given such a shabby treatment in a state like Punjab where agriculture was the principal occupation of most people.

Funds are being provided to the university on a monthly basis. But these are not enough even to meet the monthly salary bills of the university staff. Officials concerned on condition of anonymity said the government was paying Rs 4.40 crore every month to the university whereas the monthly salary bills were to the tune of Rs 5.82 crore. To cover up the deficit in salary bills, the university authorities resort to diversion of provident fund of employees.

Apart from this, income from various farms of the university is also diverted to pay salary to employees. In the past few months the university's deficit has touched a figure of Rs 12.44 crore. Even fees paid by non-resident students were being used to meet salary bills, officials concerned said.

The PAU is facing an embarrassing situation as it is unable to fulfil its financial commitments. The university had taken a 1200-acre farm on rent from the erstwhile ruler of Faridkot principality. The payment of Rs 22 lakh as rent was to be made to the owner of the farm by May 31. But so far the payment has not been made. Apart from this, about Rs 13 lakh is to be paid to a private party involved in harvesting and handling other related operations at the farm. This amount has also not been paid.

There is no money to buy tyres and petrol for vehicles attached with certain important departments like the seed production wing of the university. In order to carry out research at the university's farms, scientists need contingency funds and also money for spraying pesticides. But all this work has been paralysed due to financial crisis.

As many as 81 per cent funds provided to the university are spent to meet establishment expenditure. The remaining 19 per cent is used to carry out other work like research, surveys and surveillance etc. The authorities concerned say that 19 per cent allocation of funds for this purpose was too less. This was the reason that little progress was being made on the research front in the university.

A university functionary said last year the share of agriculture in Punjab's gross domestic product (GDP) was 43 per cent whereas allocation for research in agriculture was mere 0.3 per cent of the total budget of the state. This clearly proved that the state's priorities lie elsewhere and it was not focusing on agriculture and was least bothered with solving problems related to it.

The university's board of management had approved a budget of Rs 104 crore for the current financial year for PAU. Out of this, Rs 80 crore was to be paid by the Punjab Government as its share while the remaining was to be provided by the Central Government and other institutions.

However, the government has approved a budget plan of Rs 63.5 crore in all and out of this Rs 53 crore is for non-Plan funds and Rs 10.5 crore for Plan funds. The state government would pay Rs 53 crore in instalments on monthly basis.

How can research projects be planned under such circumstances, queried a senior functionary. One prepares a project in July and gets money to execute it in the last month of the financial year. Can a project be implemented in the last month of the financial year, he questioned. Last year, the university had submitted a budget of Rs 92 crore but it got Rs 61 crore only from the state government though it was supposed to pay Rs 71 crore as its share.

Dr G.S. Kalkat, Vice-Chancellor of PAU, has written a very strongly worded letter to the Punjab Government with regard to the crisis faced by the university. However, there was little chance of the state government responding to the Vice-Chancellor's SOS as already the government itself was neck-deep in financial crisis and resorting to several kinds of ad hoc measures to deal with the situation.

As Mr Kalkat was away to the USA, this correspondent contacted Mr K.S. Aulakh, Director, Research, of the university. He said everything with regard to financial affairs of the university had been brought to the notice of the Chief Secretary, Mr R.S. Mann, and other officials concerned. "We are expecting that the state government will accept what has been proposed to meet financial requirements of PAU", Mr Aulakh added.

New-look 500-rupee notes soon
Steps to counter counterfeiters
By A.S. Prashar
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 8 — The five-hundred-rupee currency note is being redesigned to make it easily distinguishable from the hundred-rupee note. This will also take care of the increasing incidence of counterfeit notes in circulation in different parts of the country.

The new 500-rupee notes are already under print in a foreign country and are expected to be introduced from January 1 along with the new 1000-rupee notes, according to officials at the local office of the Reserve Bank of India.

The new design of the 500-rupee note is being kept a closely guarded secret. "We want to stay one step ahead of the thieves and counterfeiters. Hence, the need for constant changes and improvements in the currency notes, especially those of higher denominations. Nobody wants to make a fake 10-rupee note because it is not worth the effort", the officials point out.

Counterfeit 500-rupee-notes floating around is not the only problem as regards these currency notes. They look strikingly similar to the 100-rupee notes as regards design and size. It is common for a 500-rupee note to be mistaken as a 100-rupee-note and vice versa. RBI officials here assert that this is the main reason why the 500-rupee note is being redesigned.

As regards the extent of the problem of counterfeit notes, the RBI office has no idea as to the magnitude of the problem. Nor does it have any mechanism to carry out surveillance and check the circulation of the fake currency notes. "Your guess is as good as ours", say the officials. "We keep on reading in newspapers about the seizure of counterfeit currency notes by the police in different parts of Punjab and Haryana. We try to verify these reports and do whatever we can to check the menace. We have also been writing to the Directors-General of Police in the two states but the response from them is not always prompt."

The best to combat the menace of fake currency notes is to educate the people concerned on how to spot them. The RBI has organised a series of workshops in various towns and cities of Punjab in recent months in this connection. These workshops have been attended by the police, CBI officials, bankers as also those who handle large amounts of cash . Regular classes have been organised for commercial banks as also the Central Detective School at Chandigarh.

"The fact of the matter is that the advancement of science has made it easy for the criminals to make fake notes. Some of the notes are so good that even experienced hands like us in the bank can get taken in," officials say.

However, in most of the cases the fakes are either crude colour photocopies or printed on two pieces of paper pasted together. It is not difficult to spot them and weed them out.

Officials say according to the police, most of the counterfeit notes are being printed across the border by forces hostile to India and pushed in through a porous border. But there are any number of instances in which local gangs are also involved in printing and circulation of these notes.

Officials here say there are two schools of thought as regards the education drive by the RBI. While most are appreciative of the drive, some feel that it could lead the common man into doubting the genuineness of every note.

The RBI has installed here a German currency verification and processing system which can examine as many as three lakh currency notes in a day for genuineness.

Villagers threaten stir against NFL
From Our Correspondent

NANGAL, July 8 — Villagers of Bhatoli, Basdehra, Rampur Sani, Mehatpur, Kalsera and Bhabore Sahib villages have threatened to launch an agitation against the local unit of the National Fertilisers Ltd. (NFL) authorities if any attempt is made by it to take over the village land. In a memorandum to the Punjab Chief Minister through Mr Madan Mohan Mittal, Food and Civil Supplies Minister, Punjab, who represents the constituency, the villagers have urged Mr Badal to personally intervene in the matter. The villagers are protesting against the decision of the NFL management to reclaim the land of the said villages which it had declared surplus in 1986 and placed it at the disposal of Punjab Government to return it to the original owners.

The NFL’s Naya Nangal unit was set up in 1955 and the state government on behalf of the NFL had acquired about 3,600 acres from 17 villages. However, the land acquired at that time was not put to use. About 306 acres adjoining these villages remained with the villagers.

In 1986 after much lobbying by the local politicians the 306 acres were declared surplus. The state government could not substantiate the real owners as repeated land consolidations had changed the positions of the lands. It approached the NFL to provide the old records.

These records were prepared after hiring the services of retired patwaris who were engaged on a contract basis. These details were provided to the Deputy Commissioner, Ropar, through a letter in 1993.

According to the letter the cost of the surplus land was fixed at Rs 6,46,361.27. The NFL once again in 1996 and 1997 supplied the records of the lands to the naib tehsildar, Nangal, and the Under Secretary, Punjab, to facilitate them to return the land to the original owners.

However, now after 13 years when the land was about to be returned to the original owners, the NFL management has again written to the state government for not releasing the land to the owners. Senior estate officer of the NFL when contacted said the decision had been taken because the land was now needed by it for the disposal of it’s industrial water in view of the increase in production.

However, Mr Mittal, who had been lobbying the case of villagers, said the disputed land could be used for the disposal of industrial waste as it was near the residential areas of the villages. He added that the NFL had no locus standi for demanding the land back as now the Financial Commissioner, Revenue (Punjab) had taken over the land and was about to be released back to the owners.

When patients are left in the lurch
Tribune News Service

BATHINDA, July 8 — The assignment of special duties to the doctors during the visits of VIPs in the district has adversely affected the work at local civil hospital.

Inconvenience to the patients in the hospital has become a routine affair as doctors have to absent themselves from the hospital due to the assignment of special duties for the VIPs.

According to official sources on July 6, the doctors of the hospital could perform only one operation as against the target of nine as the anaesthetist was not available in the hospital. The anaesthetist was deployed for the "medical care" of Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, who was to inaugurate a school for the deaf and dumb here on that day. The hospital had only one anaesthetist on duty that day.

Sources said the eight patients, who could not be operated upon that day returned disappointed.

Similarly, the hospital could not meet its target of operations about a week back due to the absence of specialised doctors.

In another incident no operation could be performed on February 26 as most of surgeons were sent with Mr Badal to Anandpur Sahib for the Chardi Kala-Sarbat Da Bhala March taken out by him from Talwandi Sabo.

Apart from this the indoor patients also suffer whenever the doctors treating them miss their daily rounds.

Dr B.R. Gupta, Civil Surgeon, when contacted said it was the duty of the SMO to arrange extra doctors for special duty during visits of VIPs. He added that the anaesthetist could have been arranged from the field hospitals and health centres.

Dr J.S. Sandhu, SMO, when contacted admitted that special duties of the doctors were creating problems and said special duties were being assigned to the doctors from the Civil Surgeon’s office and the office should look into the matter.

Retirement age
College teachers' protest on July 16
by P.P.S. Gill
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 8 — Will the issue of lowering of retirement age of the teaching staff of non-government aided colleges in Punjab snowball into a controversy or end as a storm in a teacup?

The answer, either way, lies with the government, which is prone to pressures and pulls. It succumbs too often faced with vociferous protests or simply squirms due to political exigencies.

The government on June 30 took a decision to "lower" the superannuation age of the teaching staff of the private-aided colleges. Even before a formal notification could be issued, the information leaked out, raising a storm of protest. The Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers' Union, the Federation of Principals, etc, got together and sent a representation to the Department of Higher Education against the move.

Even a dharna was held outside the office of the DPI (C) in Chandigarh on July 6. Sensing the mood, the officials concerned met to "reconsider" the decision on lowering the age from 60 to 58. Till a final decision the formal issuance of the orders has been stayed. That the retirement age issue is under "reconsideration" of Department of Higher Education was confirmed to TNS by the Special Secretary, Mr Amarjit Singh.

There are nearly 170 colleges which get 95 per cent grant-in-aid and enjoy the pension benefits as well. The number of teachers involved is 6,000-odd. These colleges are affiliated to various universities in Punjab and Chandigarh.

The government in its wisdom left out the non-teaching staff when deciding to lower the age from 60 to 58 years.

Delving into the background of the entire episode and form enquiries made by TNS within the government and from among the teachers it transpired that age issue was left out inadvertently by the bureaucrats when it came to implementation of the notification of the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development and the University Grants Commission in respect of revised pay scales or grant of pension benefit. Teachers had to agitate for this as also for forcing the Punjab government to restore the grant of 95 per cent which was withdrawn in the face of financial stringency faced by the government.

PSEB revives VDS for consumers
From Our Correspondent

PATIALA, July 8 — The Punjab State Electricity Board today announced the reintroduction of a voluntary disclosure scheme for domestic, commercial and agriculture consumers to know the exact connected load coming on the PSEB system for proper load management.

According to an official note, the scheme which will remain operative from July 15 to October 31 has been reintroduced on public demand.

The PSEB had introduced the scheme last year but when it conducted raids this year the consumers said they didn’t know about the scheme and urged the PSEB to give them more time.

The terms and conditions shall be as under:

— The unauthorised loads declared by the consumers voluntarily shall be regularised immediately after recovering requisite service connection charges and additional ACD (security) for the total detected declared additional load.

— As an incentive to domestic consumers the service connection charges shall be recovered at 50 per cent of the applicable slab rates. However, commercial consumers shall have to pay the service connection charges at full rates as applicable.

— For agriculture consumers the unauthorised extensions in load detected or declared shall be regularised after submission of revised forms and test report along with special charges and Rs 3,000 per BHP (non-refundable) and at the rate of Rs 90 per kw for the unauthorised extension in load. The charges of Rs 3,000 per BHP (non-refundable) shall be recovered irrespective of the fact whether augmentation of the transformer is involved or not.

Bodies of three teenagers found
Tribune News Service

GIDDERBAHA (Muktsar), July 8 — The local police has recovered the bodies of three teenagers of the town who had been missing since May 25 from a private godown here.

Police sources said the bodies were recovered from the godown on July 6 by some labourers who were shifting the wheat bags from the godown.

A police party reached the spot immediately after it was informed about the incident by the owner of godown. The bodies were highly decomposed.

The police called the parents of the children who then identified the bodies from the shoes and clothes.

Mr Ashok Bath, DSP, when contacted said the bodies were sent to Medical College, Faridkot, where a post-mortem examination was done.

He added that the bodies were identified as those of Dogar, Deepu and Vinod.

Mr Bath said as per preliminary investigations, the three teenagers had gone to the godown to steal wheat and hid under tarpaulin cover when someone came. As celphos tablets had been mixed in the wheat bags, the teenagers fell unconscious after inhaling its gas and died there.

He claimed that the police did not suspect any foul play.

Dismissal of SHO sought
Tribune News Service

AMRITSAR, July 8 — Tarn Taran police has allegedly "abducted" a woman and an old man from their respective houses in Amritsar and kept them in illegal custody. Both were seen at Sarhali police station where they were allegedly harassed and humiliated. However, their whereabouts were not known yet.

The Punjab Human Rights Organisation (PHRO) in separate letters to the Chief Justice, Supreme Court, the Chief Justice, Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chairman, National Human Rights Commission, and Amnesty International has urged to dismiss the SHO Sarhali, who had allegedly abducted both.

Ruling party MLA Laxmi Kanta Chawla has urged the state government and Director-General of Police, Mr Sarbjit Singh, to take action against the SHO. She added that if they had committed any crime then the law should take its own course.

The Deputy Chairman of the PHRO, Mr Kirpal Singh Randhawa, alleged that Mr Narinder Singh, father of Mr Baldev Singh, a former personal assistant to Jathedar, Akal Takht, was picked up on June 10 from his residence, 488-N, East Mohan Nagar Colony, by the SHO. Ms Jasbir Kaur (40), was also picked up the same day in a private vehicle by the SHO himself along with heavy police force. Even after a month their whereabouts were not known, he alleged.

On the other hand, Mrs Laxmi Kanta Chawla has claimed that a Warrant Officer of the Punjab and Haryana High Court had found three persons in the police station during a raid on a habeas corpus petition.

The SSP, Tarn Taran, however, was not available for comments.

BJP govt not "equipped" to take decisions
Tribune News Service

JALANDHAR, July 8 — The All India Shiromani Akali Dal has demanded the formation of a national government headed by the Vice-President, to deal with the ongoing Kargil crisis effectively.

The senior vice-president of the party, Mr Sukhjinder Singh, while briefing the media here today, alleged, that the BJP-led coalition had lost its credibility to rule and as the country was passing through a serious situation its "care taker" status, did not equip the BJP government to take all important decisions at this critical juncture.

He justified the demand for a national government keeping the "changed scenario" in mind Mr Sukhjinder Singh appealed to the President, that the national government's formation would build confidence in the people and armed forces.

However, he said both Pakistan and India, being nuclear powers, should avoid any armed conflict which, could cause mass destruction in the sub-continent. Both the countries should act with great responsibility and restrain and resolve the Kashmir issue through negotiations.

Spurious motor oil racket busted
Tribune News Service

JALANDHAR, July 8 — Jalandhar police has busted a spurious oil racket and arrested two persons after a huge quantity of substandard motor oil was seized.

Mr Gaurav Yadav, SSP, stated here today that the police had received information regarding the manufacture and sale of spurious motor oil under the brand name of reputed oil companies.

A special police party conducted a raid and seized 70 tins (1 litre each) of fake motor oil (Servo brand), and 10,900 litres of similar oil ready for packaging. Twentyseven empty drums were also seized.

A case under Section 420, IPC, and Section 7, Essential Commodities Act was registered and Subhash Chander of Model House, Jalandhar and Kamlesh of Uttar Pradesh.

Mr Yadav said the accused used to buy inferior quality oil from the local market and other sources and used to pack and sell it at a price lower to the genuine products.

The police added that some more retailers and dealers may be rounded up after further investigations.

The accused were produced in the court and remanded in custody.

Minister refutes patwaris' claim

BATALA, July 8 (PTI) — All Deputy Commissioners in Punjab have been directed to get 'pardon affidavits' from striking revenue patwaris before allowing them to join duties in their respective districts.

Talking to the mediapersons here yesterday Revenue Minister Sewa Singh Sekhwan refuted the claim of revenue patwaris that they had withdrawn the strike following a meeting with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

He clarified that neither Badal nor he himself nor any high official of the Revenue Department had the meeting with the striking patwaris who had been on an indefinite strike since June 1.

Mr Sekhwan said that Deputy Commissioners had also been directed not to take any decision on their own in the case of revenue patwaris and that the state Cabinet would decide as to what to do with the patwaris as the Cabinet had decided not to negotiate with them.

1 held for selling rail tickets
Tribune News Service

JALANDHAR, July 8 — The railway police has busted a racket involving the selling and purchasing of railway tickets illegally and recovered 52 tickets worth Rs 32,000 from Manoj Kumar Puri.

The Assistant Security Commissioner, Railway Police Force, Mr A.K. Sinha, has said Manoj Kumar Puri's father, Purshotam Lal Puri has already been apprehended by the railway police way back in May when 82 tickets worth Rs 58,000 were recovered from him.

The modus-operandi was to get the tickets booked from Beas to Amritsar, instead of Jalandhar City. All 32 tickets recovered were booked from railway computer reservation centre in Amritsar. The role of the staff at the booking centre was also being investigated, Mr Sinha said.

Ayurvedic docs to give a day's salary
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 8 — The Punjab Ayurvedic Medical Service Association executive under the presidentship of Dr Harmanjeet Singh, in which representative of Punjab Upvaid Union Mr Nariner Pal Singh and dais (midwives) also participated, decided to contribute a day's salary by all Ayurvedic Medical Officers and staff to the Punjab War Heroes' Family Welfare Fund.

The amount approximately will work out to Rs 10 lakh, says a press note.

8 fugitives arrested
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, July 8 — The city police has achieved a major success with the arrest of eight persons who were wanted in different cases here today.

According to the information available from police station division No 6, these persons have been identified as Vijay Kumar Aasa Singh, Sikandar Singh, Veeru, Chamkaur Singh, Sohan Singh, Kartar Kaur and Saroj Bala. All of them were wanted in cases of robberies.

During a police naka set up at Transport Nagar, they had arrested Shiv Kumar and recovered 500 gm of cocaine from his possession.

4 satta operators arrested
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, July 8 — The CIA staff of the Ludhiana police has arrested four prominent satta operators in the city and recovered Rs 55,469 from their possession. Those who have been arrested are Ramesh Kumar, Raj Kumar, Desraj and Santosh Kumar.

Withdrawal of CRPF men allowed by HC
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 8 — The Punjab and Haryana High Court today allowed the Centre to withdraw all CRPF personnel deployed in Punjab.

Allowing a writ petition preferred by the Centre, Mr Justice T.H.B. Chalapathi ruled: "I permit the Union of India to withdraw all the CRPF personnel who have been deployed to provide security to private parties or government offices in Punjab".

The judge held that the Union of India was at liberty to deploy them anywhere it liked. It was for the Punjab Government to provide security from its own police force, if there is any order of the court to provide such a security.

The state of Punjab cannot object or obstruct the Union of India from allowing it to deploy CRPF personnel as it likes.