Tuesday, May 11, 1999
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P U N J A B | |
Tuesday, May 11, 1999 |
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spotlight today's calendar |
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Punjab
Principal Secretary fined for flouting orders Movement against Badal
‘soon’ |
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30,000
new phones provided Decision to bar teachers from
checking decried Sodhi stakes claim to Jalandhar LS
seat
Split to have only 'marginal
effect' on SAD nominees Demand to improve hospitals'
working
Tributes paid to Balbir Singh |
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Punjab Principal Secretary
fined for flouting orders CHANDIGARH, May 10 — The Punjab and Haryana High Court today slapped a fine of Rs 1,000 on Mr Bikramjit Singh, Punjab's Principal Secretary (Irrigation), for flouting its orders. Mr Justice T.H.B. Chalapathi, who handed down this order, ordered that the fine so deposited "shall be credited to the Punjab State Legal Aid Committee." He also directed that in default of the payment of fine, the contemner "has to undergo 15 days' simple imprisonment." Adjourning the case to May 17, the Judge observed that on November 11, 1998, the court had passed the order that the Departmental Promotion Committee" may proceed to consider the eligible candidates for promotion but the decision shall not be given effect to until further orders." In spite of this order, Mr Bikramjit Singh passed an order on April 27 giving current duty charge of the posts of Chief Engineers to seven persons. They are Mr M.L. Garg, Mr S.K. Mehta, Mr N.S. Chawla, Mr P.K. Singla, Mr D.C. Nagpal, Mr Bhagat Singh and Mr D.D. Vashisht. "The said order, though worded, that the Superintending Engineers have been given current duty charge, makes it clear the intention of the government to promote them to the posts of Chief Engineer. Nowhere in the said order is it mentioned that the persons who have been promoted as Chief Engineers have to draw the salary in the pay scale of the Superintending Engineer," the Judge held. "I am, therefore, clear in my mind that the Principal Secretary has clearly violated the orders of this court, while issuing the order dated April 27, 1999, cleverly using the words 'current duty charge' instead of using the word promotion," the Judge ruled. "The apology tendered by the Principal Secretary cannot be accepted," the Judge held. "Although it is a clear and flagrant violation of the order of this court, yet the Principal Secretary has given an undertaking to this court that he will withdraw the order dated April 27, 1999, within one day. I feel that the interest of justice will be met by imposing a fine of Rs 1,000 and the same shall be credited to the Punjab State Legal Aid Committee." This order was handed down on a contempt petition filed by Mr Om Parkash and certain other Superintending Engineers, saying that if the respondents were allowed to go ahead with the promotions, the petitioners who had already suffered because of the biased, illegal and mala fide attitude of the government would suffer further irreparable loss. They further alleged
that the Departmental Promotion Committee, which held its
meeting on November 12, 1998, did not consider their case
and instead promoted persons who became members of the
class I service subsequent to them. |
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Movement against Badal
‘soon’ BHAGTABHAIKA (Bathinda), May 10 — The former president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra, today said pro-Akal Takht Sikh organisations would launch a mass movement to oust the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal if he (Mr Badal) did not produce himself before Bhai Ranjit Singh for seeking apology for his blunders. "We will launch a mass movement. We will stage a dharna against the high handedness of Mr Badal. We will do everything to teach Mr Badal a lesson if he does not bow before Akal Takht and recognise Bhai Ranjit Singh as the real Jathedar of Akal Takht. We will then launch a movement to get him out of power", said Mr Tohra while talking to newspersons here. He said if Mr Badal did not seek an apology for his blunders he would have to pay a political price in the next elections. He alleged that Mr Badal and Capt Amarinder Singh, President, PPCC, were in the habit of entering into a "secret deal" during election time for protecting their own political interests. He added there was a strong possibility they would enter into some secret understanding in the coming elections also. While terming the Congress as enemy number one, Mr Tohra alleged if the Congress gained any benefit from the Akali crisis in the coming elections, Mr Badal alone would be responsible for it as it was Mr Badal who brought the Shiromani Akali Dal to its present situation. He, however, added that pro-Akal Takht Sikh organisations would decide their political course after May 20. He said that if Mr Badal sought apology from Bhai Ranjit Singh with a clean heart he would be forgiven and this was the only way for having a patch-up with Mr Badal. In another significant statement, Mr Tohra alleged that during Mr Badal's rule police excesses had gone up manifold. He pointed out that the Shiromani Akali Dal came into power after getting the vote of people against police excesses but now the Punjab government was financing police officials facing court cases for killing innocent persons during terrorism. He added that even late Beant Singh's government never financed any police official who violated human rights. Mr Tohra alleged Mr Badal was getting his political opponents and other critics booked for no reason. Mr Badal was also trying to implicate members of the Sant Samaj in false criminal cases. He (Mr Badal) had allowed the Punjab police to commit all sorts of atrocities on anyone who created any problem for him. He pointed out that police officials facing murder cases after being indicted by the Supreme Court and high courts had been given prize posts. These police officials were enjoying unconstitutional immunity from every sort of legal action against their acts of omission and commission during Mr Badal's government. He said that crises in the Akali Dal were engineered by Editor of Jalandhar based Punjabi daily. He added that to protect that editor, Mr Badal challenged the authority of Akal Takht and insulted this highest temporal seat of Sikhs. Mr Tohra pointed out that due to anti-Panth activities of Mr Badal the sentiments of common Sikhs had been injured. Such common Sikhs would try to teach a lesson to those Akali leaders who had injured their sentiments in the coming parliamentary elections, he added. Later, Mr Tohra
addressed a meet ing of Akali workers at the house of Mr
Hardev Singh, former Chairman of the Market Committee of
Bhagta Bhaika. |
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Memorial planned at Ranjit Sagar site RANJIT SAGAR DAM, May 10 — The state government has decided not to retrench any employee after the completion of the Rs 3200 crore Ranjit Sagar Dam, which would start generating power by the end of June, before the onset of paddy sowing. At present, more than 15000 employees have been working day and night to complete the multi-purpose dam, which would produce 600 mw power per annum, apart from providing irrigation facilities. Of the expected 9000 employees who would be tendered surplus after the completion of the dam, at least 5000 would be engaged in the Rs 1412 crore Shahpur Kandi Dam project (Ravi Project Unit V) comprising a 54.5-metre-high concrete dam which would produce 168 MW power on completion. Mr Sikandar Singh Maluka, state minister for irrigation, who visited the dam site here today said that the state government had already sanctioned Rs 35 crore for the Shahpur Kandi project despite the financial crunch. After the start of work on this project, the Ministry of Water Resources and Central Electricity Authority had agreed to give financial aid for its completion. This project would help to utilise the surplus water of Ranjit Sagar Dam. In a significant announcement, Mr Maluka said the Shahpur Kandi project was not going to be handed over to a private concern. A Korean firm had evinced keen interest in taking up the project at a cost of more than Rs 3000 crore. However, the state government had decided to construct the project on its own at a cost of Rs 1412 crore. The state government would complete this project within five years, he added. Shahpur Kandi project would act as a balancing reservoir for the Ranjit Sagar power plant as a peaking station and regulate the supplies to Shahpur Kandi hydroelectric channel UBD Canal system. With its completion, more water would be available for irrigation purpose. The state government had also decided to raise a suitable memorial at the Ranjit Sagar Dam site in memory of the more than 300 employees who lost their lives during the construction of the dam. The state government had also decided to give incentives to the employee who had worked round the clock for its completion. Mr Maluka said incentives would be given by the state government when the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, dedicates the project to the nation next month. The state government would give employment to the next of kin of those who lost their lives while constructing the dam. The minister today declared open the "AA Class" spillway bridge, which would connect Punjab with Jammu and Kashmir. This bridge would reduce the distance by road between both states. It has been constructed as per the designs provided by the Indian Army. The spillway bridge is different than the conventional bridges as its piers will support the spillway radial gates which would be operated by hoists installed on its piers. Meanwhile, the representatives of various trade unions who met the state minister threatened to bring the entire work on Ranjit Sagar Dam to a standstill from May 22 if the state government failed to exempt them from house rent. They claimed that all employees engaged in the construction of big dams or projects had been enjoying free accommodation at the sites. Among chose who met Mr Maluka today were Mr Gian Chand Lumba (AITUC), Mr Dalip Singh and Mr Gulzar Singh (RSD Employees Federation), Mr Natha Singh (CITU), Mr Amarjit Singh (Scheduled Caste Employees Union) and Mr Rawel Singh and Mr Balwinder Singh. They urged the minister to give maximum facilities to those employees who had become handicapped during the construction of the dam. Among those present were
Mr Sarwan Singh Phillour, Minister for Social Welfare, Mr
Satpal Saini, Mr Ram Lal, Ms Roop Rani, Mr Balbir Singh
Bath, all MLAs from Gurdaspur. |
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30,000 new phones provided JALANDHAR, May 10 — Over 30,000 new telephone connections were provided to consumers in Jalandhar, Kapurthala and Nawanshahr revenue districts of Jalandhar telecom district during 1998-99. According to Mr Rajesh Wadhwa, General Manager, Telecom, the network now has a capacity of around 1.85 lakh lines with over 1.5 lakh telephones working from 118 telephone exchanges. The network is now 100 per cent electronic. It is now planned to accelerate the pace of expansion during 1999-2000. The existing waiting list in Jalandhar is likely to be exhausted by 2000 and telephones will be available on demand in many exchanges, he said. Over 700 new public
telephones were installed during the year, bringing the
total number of public telephones to 6331. The STD
facility was provided to 22 more exchanges, an increase
of 30 per cent from 75 to 97. The call alert (call
waiting) and wake-up call services have been provided,
free of rental, on all telephones. |
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Decision to bar teachers from
checking decried PATIALA, May 10 — The Punjab Government College Teachers Association today criticised the Punjabi University authorities for debarring more than 50 government and private college teachers from checking examination papers by setting aside rules and regulations of the university. In a statement here, the association President, Dr P.S. Bhati, said in spite of repeated assurances by the Vice-Chancellor to rescind the decision, nothing had been done in this regard. He alleged that to settle old scores, the university authorities had debarred more teachers by appointing a tutored committee. Dr Bhatti said in spite of the fact that many vigilance cases were pending against the Vice-Chancellor, he had reopened many old, decided cases few days prior to his retirement to take revenge. Punjabi University was the only university in the state which imposed a mistake fee of Rs 300 on poor students even for a minor mistake in the form and a fine of Rs 200 per mistake on teachers on evaluation duty. The association appealed
to the Punjab Governor, who is the Chancellor of the
university, and the Chief Minister not to give any
extension to this 'anti-teacher' and 'anti-student'
Vice-Chancellor. |
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Sodhi stakes claim to
Jalandhar LS seat JALANDHAR, May 10 — The Punjab BJP chief, Mr Daya Singh Sodhi, has staked his claim to the Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat. Answering questions at a Press conference here today, Mr Sodhi said the party had opposed the candidature of Mr I.K. Gujral during the February, 1998, elections. Now after the defeat of the Vajpayee government in the Lok Sabha by one vote, the BJP's opposition to Mr Gujral's candidature had become more strident, he said. He denied that BJP minister Balramji Dass Tandon would contest the Amritsar seat and announced that there was no possibility of change in the earlier BJP candidates for three of the 13 parliamentary seats in Punjab. He said the attitude of the Vajpayee government to the demands of Punjab had been much more generous than that of the former Gujral government. He said the BJP was of the view that the Badal-Tohra tussle should end immediately. Regarding the Nabha
school controversy, he said there was no interference by
BJP ministers in the matter. |
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2 migrants killed in mishap JALANDHAR, May 10 (UNI) — A sleeping teenaged migrant was killed when a four-wheeler ran over her on the premises of a local factory whereas another migrant worker got electrocuted by a naked wire while drinking water in another factory in the city on Saturday, police sources said yesterday. Vilas Verma (16) of Gonda village in Uttar Pradesh was asleep on the floor of the factory in Ravi Das Nagar here when a Tata-407 vehicle ran over him as its driver backed it without knowing that somebody was sleeping. The victim's uncle, Hariram Verma, who also asleep, however, escaped unhurt in the mishap. Ram Bharose (30) from Samastipur village in Bihar, got electrocuted in a plastic factory on the Sodhal road when hit by a naked electric wire while drinking water from a water cooler in the factory. Meanwhile, Kabul Singh
(70), who suffered 70 per cent burns in an accidental
stove burst at home in the nearby Nangal Fatehkhan
village on April 30, succumbed to his injuries in the
Civil Hospital here yesterday, the sources added. |
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Split to have only 'marginal
effect' on SAD nominees SANGRUR, May 10 — Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, secretary-general of the Shiromani Akali Dal and member of the Rajya Sabha, said here yesterday that the division of votes in the case of a split by the faction led by former SGPC president Gurcharan Singh Tohra would affect the SAD candidates in the Lok Sabha elections only marginally. Mr Dhindsa emphasised that the history of the party clearly showed that the masses had voted only for the main Akali Dal and any person forming a separate faction by causing a split had been rejected by voters. Predicting the victory
of the SAD-BJP candidates in the elections, Mr Dhindsa
said the major achievements of the Badal government were
strengthening of communal harmony preserving of peace and
ensuring the rule of law. These would go a long way in
ensuring the victory of the SAD-BJP nominees. |
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Demand to improve hospitals'
working AMRITSAR, May 10 — Mrs Lakshmi Kanta Chawla, a local MLA, has demanded to either improve the functioning of hospitals in the state or bring down the hike in medical charges. In a press release issued here today, she said the Government move was "anti-poor". She alleged that the laboratories in were not hospitals functioning and patients had been recommended to the private clinics for their vested interests. The Government will have to prepare a long-term plan to improve the functioning of the hospitals, she said. She demanded to release the funds of Dr Vidya Sagar Mental Hospital as inmates were on the verge of starvation. She pointed out that
similar conditions were prevailing in T.B. Hospital where
medicines were scarce. |
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Tributes paid to Balbir Singh HOSHIARPUR, May 10 — The death anniversary of Balbir Singh, a former president of the Punjab Lok Dal, was observed here today. A function was organised at the local DAV Senior Secondary School in which people from all walks of life participated. Balbir Singh was gunned down by terrorists on May 10, 1985. Those who paid their
tributes included Mr Mahant Ram Parkash Dass, president,
VHP, Northern India, Mr Surjit Singh Minhas, a former
Speaker of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, Mr Tikshan Sud and
Mrs Mohinder Kaur, both MLAs and Mr Pawan Kumar Adia,
president, Dalit Sangharsh Samiti Punjab. They said the
late leader had devoted his life for the upliftment of
the poor and always stood for the integration of the
country. A langar was also served to mark the
celebration. |
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Hero heads PPCC disciplinary
panel CHANDIGARH, May 10
— While restructuring the disciplinary committee of
the party, Capt Amarinder Singh, President of the Punjab
Pradesh Congress Committee, has appointed Mr Harcharan
Singh Hero, a senior Congress leader, as chairman of the
disciplinary committee. Dr Kewal Krishan, Pandit
Balmukand, Mr Lall Singh and Mr Sardual Singh, all former
ministers, have been appointed members of the
disciplinary committee. |
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Manifesto committee CHANDIGARH, May 10
— Mr Ajit Inder Singh Mofar, senior vice-president
of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), has been appointed
chairman of the mainfesto committee constituted by Mr
Simranjit Singh Mann President of the party. Other
members of the committee are Mr Ram Singh, Mr Charan
Singh Lohara, Mr Jagmohan Singh, Mr Parminderpal Singh,
Mr Paramjit Singh Barnala, Mr Rupinder Singh Chahil and
Mr Gurjatinder Singh Bhikhiwind, according to a statement
issued here today by Mr Iqbal Singh Tiwana, secretary of
the party. |
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Brick-kilns endanger
residents' health NANGAL, May 10 — Brick-kilns operating in the vicinity of Shivalik Avenue, a residential colony, have posed a health hazard to the residents of the area. The two brick-kilns, situated just 100 metres away from the colony, are blatantly flouting the Punjab Government notification dated October 29, 1976, which prohibits setting up kilns near residential areas. However, the Municipal Council, Nangal, under whose jurisdiction the brick-kilns existed passed a resolution no. 124 on June 7, 1996 to remove them from the present site. The decision of the council was conveyed to the District Magistrate, Ropar, and the District Food and Supplies Officer, on August 30, 1996, for action. Mr K.D. Bali, president of the Shivalik Avenue Welfare Society has demanded action against them. In addition to these,
there are as many as 33 kilns operating in an area within
a 1 km radius of the colony. |
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Mr N.S. Kaurian CHANDIGARH, May 10 — Mr Narinderjit Singh Kaurian has been appointed special invitee to the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee. Mr Mukhtiar Singh
Bhullar has been appointed convener of the panchayati raj
cell of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, according
to sources. |
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