Wednesday, May 12, 1999
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Wednesday, May 12, 1999 |
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Congress bid to check
indiscipline PATIALA, May 11 — Punjab Congress President Amarinder Singh today said disciplinary action would be taken against any Congressman going public on party matters. PNB slaps suit on Punseed to get 60 cr BATHINDA, May 11 — The Punjab State Seed Corporation is likely to wind up shortly as Punjab National Bank had filed a suit to recover its Rs 60 crore from the corporation. Uneasy calm at Dhakki Sahib DHAKKI SAHIB, May 11 — An uneasy calm prevails in this sleepy village, 40 km from Ludhiana, following clashes between inmates of Baba Darshan Singh's dera and villagers. |
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Capt Kanwaljit denies rift in unit FATEHGARH SAHIB, May 11 — Punjab Government has decided to recruit all the 1650 teachers who earlier were working on 89 days and whose services were terminated on the directions of the court. Notification to this effect will be issued in a day or two, Capt Kanwaljit Singh, Minister for Finance told the Tribune here today. College
restrained on lecturers' sack Hospital
charges reduced Jalandhar
prepares for Vajpayee visit Unsafe
school buildings highest in Gurdaspur
Timber
smuggling: 2 Army men held Ex-services
League holds mini darbars Rs
60 cr to be spent on houses for poor Advice
not to sow rice before June 10 Three
drowned in Bhakra canal Husband
held for abetting suicide DA
instalment for Punjab staff soon |
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Congress bid to check
indiscipline PATIALA, May 11 — Punjab Pradesh Congress President Capt Amarinder Singh today said immediate disciplinary action would be taken against any Congressman going public on internal party matters. Addressing a press conference here, Capt Amarinder Singh said a communication in this regard had been received by him from Congress General Secretary Pranab Mukherjee. "The party is on a sound footing and its morale is very high. We will not allow anyone to create dissension in the party at this stage", he said. The PPCC President when asked about recent statements given by state unit General Secretary Birdevinder Singh about the candidature of his wife Praneet Kaur and his remarks on the party functioning, said "Birdevinder is not an issue". When asked if the issues raised by Mr Birdevinder Singh were being redressed, he said. "I listen to everyone but make my own decisions". He said anyone having grievances against him should approach the high command but not air his views in the press. Speaking about the luncheon meeting held with former Chief Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal two days back at Chandigarh, he said too much was being read into a routine meeting. He said at present there were no differences between him and Mrs Bhattal. Capt Amarinder Singh said he had discussed the party strategy for the parliamentary elections with Mrs Bhattal. He said Mrs Bhattal had told him that she was not interested in contesting from Sangrur. Speaking about the selection of candidates for the Lok Sabha seats, he said the only criterion would be chances of winning. He said the district Congress committees would not submit any recommendations as had been done in a few cases. The district committees would only forward the applications to the pradesh Congress by May 20. He said it had been decided to give a panel of names for each seat to the Congress high command by the end of the month. This was being done to ensure early selections. He said that any Congressman working against the official Congress candidate would be dealt with severely. Mr Harcharan Singh Hero
had been made in charge of the disciplinary committee
keeping in view the one man one post criterion as Mr
Kewal Krishan had been appointed a Vice-President of the
pradesh Congress. When asked why the rule was not
enforced in case of Choudhary Jagjit Singh who is a
Vice-President as well as leader of the legislature
party, he said the latter's post did not have anything to
do with the pradesh Congress. |
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PNB slaps suit on Punseed to
get 60 cr BATHINDA, May 11 — The Punjab State Seed Corporation (Punseed) is likely to wind up shortly as Punjab National Bank (PNB) had filed a suit in the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT), Jaipur, to recover its Rs 60 crore from the corporation. The Punseed authorities has failed to return a Rs 7 crore loan taken from the bank a few years back. As loan instalments were not paid, the liability of Punseed reached at Rs 60 crore. The 200 employees of Punseed have panicked over the expected winding up of the corporation and approached the Chairman for their job security. Official sources said Punseed, which kept on suffering heavy losses till 1995, plunged into a deep financial crisis and could not meet its bank liabilities. In the absence of any external aid, the debt kept on mounting every year. Official sources said the PNB authorities have established the bank's claim in the DRT, Jaipur, against Punseed and a notice to the corporation authorities from the DRT Jaipur, is expected any time. Mr Ashok Dhir, Chairman, Punseed, when contacted said that a number of times negotiations were held with the PNB authorities to sort out the matter but the corporation had no money to satisfy the bank liabilities settled in the negotiations. Mr Dhir pointed out the PNB authorities could attach the seed plants of the corporation located at Kotkapura, Kapurthala and Dhandari Kalan (Ludhiana) and stocks of seeds of the corporation to recover their principal amount and interest on it. He pointed out that all three seed plants of Punseed had already been hypothecated to the bank. He added that Punseed was also yet to return the money taken from the Punjab and Sind Bank. He said only the Punjab
Government could help Punseed out of this crisis. |
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N. American Sikhs 'fully
back' BATHINDA: Mr Surjeet Singh Theri, Chairman of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee International (SGPCI), and member of the National Council, North America Akali Dal, says that Sikhs living abroad are making efforts to "liberate" Akal Takht from the "clutches" of the Punjab Government led by Mr Parkash Singh Badal. Mr Theri, who was deputy leader of the Shiromani Akali Dal in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha from 1962 to 1967, is currently touring Punjab for getting the people's support in maintaining the sanctity of Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of the Sikh religion. Mr Theri, who migrated to the USA in 1977 and is one of the leading farmers of California, pointed out that Mr Badal did not believe in Sikh tenets and was bent on to destroying the Sikhs' most respected institution — Akal Takht — as he (Mr Badal) had defied the Akal Takht's programme and challenged its authority for which he would have to pay the price. He added that Bhai Ranjit Singh was the only Jathedar of Akal Takht who had been recognised as genuine and the so-called "sarkari" SGPC and Akali Dal had no right to dismiss him. "Unless and until we get Akal Takht out of the sarkari 'clutches' we are not going to submit", he asserted. Mr Theri said the North America Akali Dal, which had branches in the USA, Canada and Mexico, would work in India to mobilise public support here. The Akal Takht was supreme that it must not be used by any SGPC or any "sarkari" dal, particularly for the Jathedar's appointment. His appointment must be decided by Sarbat Khalsa (by all shades of Sikh organisation) which believed in the teachings of Guru Granth Sahib and had faith in the 10 Gurus. While warning Mr Badal for speaking against Bhai Ranjit Singh and SGPC ex-President, Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra, he alleged that Mr Badal was an agent of the Centre and had the Panth anti-Sikh. However, about four millions Sikhs living abroad were well organised to destroy the "personal day-dreams" of Mr Badal to initiate the dynastic rule of his family in Punjab. Mr Theri claimed that Mr Badal was no match for the "selfless, saintly and devout" Mr Tohra, who had contributed a lot over the past 60 years for the glorification of the Sikh Panth. But Mr Badal had forced every Sikh to hang his head in shame due to his (Mr Badal) anti-Panthic activities. He declared that every Sikh living abroad was backing Bhai Ranjit Singh and Mr Tohra like a rock and would always follow the "edicts" issued by the former in its true spirit like a humble Sikh. Mr Theri stated that his organisation in association with like-minded organisations would work in Punjab to ensure a crushing defeat to SAD candidates in the forthcoming parliamentary elections. He added that they would support the third front to be formed by Mr Tohra and other like-minded parties. He pointed out that the US refusal to grant a visa to Bhai Ranjit Singh had exposed the anti-Panthic activities of Mr Badal and his "friends" in Delhi. He added that a common body for all Sikh organisations in USA had been created and the visa issue had been taken up with that government. The refusal of a visa to Bhai Ranjit Singh was like refusing a visa to the Pope. He added that about 21 US Senators, who supported the grant of visa to Bhai Ranjit Singh, deserved appreciation from the Sikh Sangat. Mr Theri declared that he had denounced the demand for "Khalistan" and only worked for bringing the Sikh youths who had gone astray into the mainstream of the North America Akali Dal and adopt peaceful ways to redress their grievances. He alleged that Mr Badal had not raised any Punjab issue with the Centre in which the SAD was a partner. All Punjab issues were pending. Hundreds of Sikh youths were languishing in jails without trial and Mr Badal had also failed to get justice for them. Mr Badal had also failed
to get Sikhs out of the Hindu code Bill and could not
fight the "financial discrimination" done
against Punjab by the Central Government. |
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Uneasy calm at Dhakki Sahib DHAKKI, SAHIB (Maksudra Village), May 11 — An uneasy calm prevails on this sleepy village, 40 km from Ludhiana, following clashes between inmates of Baba Darshan Singh's dera on the one hand and villagers and the police on the other during the past three days. Baba Darshan Singh is among the 27 persons arrested by the police so far. Ten persons, including the Baba, were arrested on May 8 following a clash between villagers and the followers of the Baba on the morning of May 8 in which firearms were allegedly used. Seventeen more were arrested yesterday following a clash between the police and the followers of the Baba when they tried to block GT Road at an important crossing at Doraha. According to the SSP, Doraha, Mr R.L. Bhagat, the police had used a video to identify the particularly violent followers of the Baba during the clash with the police at Doraha. It then raided the dera in the evening arrest the wanted persons. The police seized several firearms and ammunition during the raid on the dera on May 8. The police has been posted in strength outside the dera as also on the main approach road. All three SPs of Khanna and the SDM are camping at the site of yesterday's clash to prevent further trouble. At heart of the problem lies a sprawling 476 bighas of Dhakki jungle which has been in occupation of the 35-year-old Baba for more than a decade. The Baba belongs to Gharuan village in Ropar district where he was born in 1964. The Baba, then a young man of 23, came to the village in 1987. According to Mr Tara Singh, a former sarpanch of the village, and Mr Jagjiwanpal Singh Gill, an Akali leader of the area, the jungle belongs to the village. Sadhus and sants have visited the jungle from time to time and moved on . But Baba Darshan Singh turned his temporary abode in the jungle into a permanent dera. At present the dera has 100 inmates, including 30 women. The Baba is said to have a large following in villages in the neighbouring Sangrur district. The income or "chadawa" (donation) is said to be "good and steady." But the villagers want the forest land back. Hence, the dispute. The matter is already pending before a court. A visit to the dera showed that it had about a dozen structures — the biggest of these was Bhaura Sahib — used by the Baba exclusively. It is a two-storeyed structure with an air-conditioned unit. During the recent tercentenary celebrations of the birth of the Khalsa, the Baba hired a "Pawanhans" helicopter to reach Anandpur Sahib to baptise Sikhs. The dera in the past has been visited by several political bigwigs, including Mr Buta Singh, Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra, Mr Simranjit Singh Mann, Mr Maheshinder Singh Grewal and Baba Sarbjot Singh Bedi. Baba Darshan Singh is a member of the Sant Samaj which aligned itself with Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra in the current battle with the Chief Minister. The Baba and Mr Tohra did not think much of each other till recently. The dynamics of power politics is such that both now find themselves on the same side of the fence in the struggle against the government. The Sant Samaj has been
unequivocal in its condemnation of the "police
excesses" and has demanded immediate release of the
Baba. Both Mr Tohra and Bhai Ranjit Singh are scheduled
to visit here tomorrow. |
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Capt Kanwaljit denies rift in
unit FATEHGARH SAHIB, May 11 — Punjab Government has decided to recruit all the 1650 teachers who earlier were working on 89 days and whose services were terminated on the directions of the court. Notification to this effect will be issued in a day or two, Capt Kanwaljit Singh, Minister for Finance told the Tribune here today. He said there was no paucity of funds in the state and all bills were being cleared as usual. He said the Government had great respect for all saints, an inquiry had been ordered in the Dhakki Sahib land grab controversy and action would be taken after getting the report. He said the Akali Dal would win all 13 seats in the state as it had initiated various development projects. He denied that there was rift among the SAD in the district. He said the election campaign in the state would be launched on May 16 from Fatehgarh Sahib. Mr Parkash Singh Badal would address the political conference on that day. Earlier addressing a meeting at Sirhind town in connection with the preparations for May 16 political conference, Capt Kanwaljit Singh said, if Jathedar G.S. Tohra formed a separate party it would not effect the SAD(B). He alleged that the only motive of Jathedar Tohra was to benefit the Congress and weaken the SAD. Reacting to the demand of Jathedar Tohra that Mr Badal should appear before Bhai Ranjit Singh on May 20, he said when 185 members of the SGPC had appointed Bhai Puran Singh as Jathedar of Akal Takht how could a SAD member challenge their authority and Bhai Puran Singh as Jathedar. He said instead of performing religious duties and Mr Tohra always interfered in political affairs. The Congress, he said,
could not choose any one among the Indians to head their
party. |
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College restrained on lecturers'
sack CHANDIGARH, May 11 — The Punjab and Haryana High Court today restrained the managing committee of Mata Gujri College, Fatehgarh Sahib, from terminating the services of Ms Ramanjit Kaur, a lecturer in Commerce, and three other lecturers. Mr Justice N.K. Sodhi and Mr Justice Iqbal Singh, who handed down this order on a joint petition filed by the four lecturers, also issued notice to Punjabi University, the SGPC and others for July 19. The petitioners had prayed before the court quashing the directive issued by the Additional Secretary (Trust), SGPC to the principal of the college to terminate the services of the petitioners. The letter said
regularisation of the services of ad hoc teachers was a
burden on the college and any such appointment made by
the college principal or the managing committee should be
cancelled and information sent to the head office. |
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Hospital charges reduced PATIALA, May 11 — The Punjab government has relaxed fee rates in certain components of the recently hiked hospitalisation charges which created hue and cry among people with reports of large scale exodus of patients from various government hospitals. It has also exempted old students from the payment of revised tuition fee and hostel charges. According to a notification issued by Mr K.K. Bhatnagar principal secretary, Medical Education and Research, reaching government hospitals here today the revised rates will be considered effective from May 10 onwards, the date of the issue of notification. Under the revised rates the ultrasound charges now will cost Rs 150 instead of earlier Rs 200. A new slab of Rs 100 for 30 minutes of anaesthesia has been included while earlier the fee was charged on hourly basis. Security deposit for general ward shall be Rs 200 instead of Rs 350 for private or special ward the charges would be Rs 2000 instead of Rs 4000 earlier. Imposition of security charges was strongly opposed by the people. While the government already had announced the lowering of registration fee to Rs 2 from Rs 10, the latest notification added a new component of Rs 10 daily as bed charges for general ward patients. The tuition fee and other charges under the head would be charged only from those students who are admitted to the course in year 1999 while the old students would continue to pay the old rates till the completion of their respective course. Hostel charges will also be effective in the same manner for Punjab government employees. The ultra sound facility and CT scan facility would be free of cost in the out door. The declaration of poor free category patients, the respective unit in charges have been empowered to give benefit to 10 per cent of the patients in each unit. The initial response of the general public regarding lowering down of certain rates was not very encouraging. The patient and their relatives said the government had not touched those fee components which were pricking the common man the most like room rent of Rs 300 with additional charges of Rs 50 daily for installing each cooler. The doctors visit of Rs 50 and the high cost of subscribing diet from hospital canteen — Surinder Kumar a patient said the government should also lower down the CT scan charges which stand at a whooping Rs 1000. At the Padam Shri Dr Khushdeva Singh TB and Chest Disease Hospital less than five patients out of the 75 admitted were taking food from the hospital canteen while other find it economically wise to eat outside where rates are relatively less for vegetarian food from Rs 20 and non. veg. Rs 30 available at the hospital. An old woman who had
come for treatment in out door said all the money which
she had brought was spent in paying fees for five
mandatory tests in the TB Hospital and has nothing left
to buy the medicines. She felt the government should
exempt old patients from the high charges. |
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Jalandhar prepares for Vajpayee
visit JALANDHAR, May 11 — The one-day visit of the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, here tomorrow will formally "kick start" the joint election campaign of the SAD-BJP combine in Punjab by addressing a rally at Pratap Bagh. The visit of the PM will coincide with the function being organised by Hind Samachar Group of Newspapers for the Prime Minister's relief fund, "shakti" founded after the sanctions imposed on India after Pokhran tests. The PM will receive a draft of Rs 76.5 lakh collected under the fund by the group. The Prime Minister will also honour families of Army personnel who have been killed while fighting militants in Assam and Kashmir. According to a UNI report, the administration today unfurled the 4500-strong security umbrella in the city during the several hour long full dress rehearsal on the eve of the PM's visit to the city to test the effectiveness and adequacy of its security apparatus. Since the functions are being held in the old city, the security drill today gave a taste of hardships to city residents. Vehicular traffic was forced to find a way through narrow lanes of the city and many residents had difficulty reaching their homes and work places due to the security drill supervised by Punjab Police chief Sarbjit Singh Gill. Police forces, including
a few companies of police commandos, have been
requisitioned from several parts of the state to provide
fool-proof security to the Prime Minister. |
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Unsafe school buildings highest
in Gurdaspur CHANDIGARH, May 11 — The introduction of English in government primary schools in Punjab has made a difference. The number of students in such schools has gone up for the first time in the past many years. "We were worried as the strength of students in government primary schools was going down every year despite the best efforts to enroll new students", said Mrs Daljeet Kaur Chadha, DPI (Primary). "But the introduction of English as a subject at the primary level has proved a turning point," she added. The number of students has gone up to 17,27,276 as against the previous year's figure of 17,10,050, according to her. As the network of so-called private public schools was spreading fast in the countryside, people had started putting their kids in such schools after with drawing them from government primary schools. There was a craze among ruralites to get their wards from the beginning the system that is prevalent in urban areas. As government schools did not have this subject at the primary level people turned to private public schools. "We have not changed the medium of instruction in primary schools. Punjabi as a subject as well as the medium of instruction was very much there in government primary schools. Only English as a subject had been introduced. It was all misleading propaganda that English had been introduced at the cost of Punjabi", said Mrs Chadha. But otherwise Punjab is yet to realise the dream of Amaratya Sen, famous economist. Mr Sen says that strengthening of the primary education in India would solve most of India's problems. But even in a prosperous state like Punjab all is not well as far primary education is concerned. There are as many as 437 villages in the state without even primary schools. The Authorities concerned say that such villages do not qualify for opening primary school as these do not fulfil the norms set by the government. There are several schools which have no building of their own. These are run either in gurdwaras or at other available common places. As many as 3000 posts of primary teacher were lying vacant. There are 52,000 sanctioned posts and 49,000 teachers are on rolls. The Education Department has taken up the matter of recruitment of teachers on a contract basis to fill vacant posts. The scheme prepared in this connection has been named as "Sikhya karmi" (Education worker). Mrs Chadha said nearly Rs 2000 would be given to a person employed for the purpose. Either the person would be from the same village or from a nearby place to teach schools students. She said the scheme would be implemented if the finance department approved it. She claimed that the scheme was successful in Rajasthan. There are nearly 621 schools housed in unsafe buildings. The number of such unsafe buildings is the highest in Gurdaspur district. As per official sources, 207 primary school buildings are unsafe in Gurdaspur district and number of such buildings in Kapurthala district is 156. Interestingly in Bathinda, Ropar and Hoshiarpur districts all primary schools are housed in safe buildings. Mrs Chadha said in the
past two years a campaign had been launched to make all
buildings safe and about Rs 25 crore had been provided
for the purpose. |
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One dead in clash over land RAMPURAPHUL, May 11 — Tension gripped the two villages of Jeond and Zaid in this sub-division yesterday following the death of Harpal Chand, a resident of Zaid, when residents of these villages clashed over a piece of land. Six persons, five from Zaid, were injured when residents of Jeond attacked residents of Zaid while they were constructing a boundry wall around the village cremation ground. The district administration has posted eight policemen in Zaid following the incident. Official sources said the local police had booked 17 residents of Jeond under Sections 302,307,323, 427, 148 and 149, IPC, and 25 of the Arms Act. No arrest had been made so far. The sources said there was a dispute among the residents of the villages over a piece of land. The local authorities undertook demarcation of the disputed land and the police brought both parties to a written compromise on the issue 15 days ago. Mr H.S. Sandhu, SDM, when contacted, said residents of Zaid were constructing the boundry wall of the cremation ground made on the piece of land allotted to them under the compromise. Some residents of Jeond came there and started a quarrel. One of them fired two shots, one of which hit Harpal, alias Paali, who died on the spot. He said 17 persons of Jeond who had been booked were Banta Singh Fauji, Sukhdev Singh, Banta Singh, Gurjant Singh, Buta Singh, Ishar Singh Leela Singh, Gurjant Singh, Kunda Singh, Gurnam Singh, Gurdev Singh, Babu Singh, Surjit Singh Gurnaib Singh, Bidhia, Bachittar Singh and Pritam Singh. The injured were Sukhdeep Kumar, Darshan Singh, Jarnail Singh, Mohinder Singh and Jeet Singh, all from Zaid village. Sukhdeep Kumar, whose condition was stated to be serious, had been shifted to Civil Hospital, Bathinda. Gurnam Singh of Jeond
was also injured in the clash. |
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Timber smuggling: 2 Army men held GURDASPUR, May 11 (UNI) — The Pathankot police claimed to have busted a racket in smuggling of khair wood from Himachal Pradesh in Army vehicles with the arrest of four persons, including two Army soldiers from Northern Command, and recovery of three tonnes of timber, cut and being smuggled from the adjoining state for sale. Stating this here today, SSP Varinder Kumar said that when the Pathankot sadar police led by SHO Prem Das tried to intercept two Army vehicles over Chakki bridge outside the town yesterday, its drivers accelerated and tried to flee. But the police in their Gypsy gave a chase and seized both the vehicles and arrested four of the five persons in the vehicles. While sepoys Rakesh Kumar, alias Weeta, and Sunil Kumar, both in Army uniforms, and civilians Satpal also dressed in olive green and Rakesh Kumar were arrested, their fifth accomplice Rakesh Kumar alias Raja, managed to escape. Besides the timber, the search of the vehicles yielded two service carbines with butt numbers 353 and 363 along with 70 bullets and a country-made pistol of .12-bore with four live cartridges. The SSP said that the Army personnel, who had allegedly been operating in tandem with civilian racketeers, said that they were posted with Army Service Corps (ASC) at the Army’s Northern Command headquarter at Udhampur. On the modus operandi, Mr Varinder Kumar said that these Army vehicles used to move in supply convoys from Jammu and Srinagar and on return were scheduled to report at Bari Brahmina transit camp before picking up other cargo assigned to them. But their drivers, apparently in league with timber smugglers, instead of returning to the transit camp would drive to Pathankot to smuggle the timber in their vehicles. The SSP said that these two vehicles were scheduled to be in the transit camp on May 5 but instead came to Pathankot as per seemingly pre-determined arrangement with timber smugglers through their agents, two of whom were arrested with the soldiers. He said that the accused confessed to have been operating the racket for the last few months to make extra buck. The Army personnel used to charge Rs 8000 per vehicle load of the illegal cargo, the SSP added. The Pathankot police
have registered a case under Sections 379, 411, 409, 171
of IPC, Sections 25/54/59 of the Arms Act and under the
Kullu, Kangra, Gurdaspur Forest Protection Rules, 1927.
Efforts were underway to arrest the absconder, he added. |
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Ex-services League holds
mini darbars LUDHIANA, May 11 — The Indian Ex-Services League has started holding mini darbars to come face to face with the problems and hardships being faced by the veterans. Lt Col C.S. Dhillon, accompanied by district president and chairman, Pakhowal block, held mini darbars at half a dozen villages, including Narangwal, Gujjarwal and Latala. The ex-servicemen flayed the state government for not taking steps for their betterment. They alleged that the government had done nothing else except paying lip service to the ex-servicemen. There were a number of complaints regarding the non-receipt of old-age-pension for the past eight to nine months by ex-servicemen. In a couple of instances the complainants had died while waiting for their pensions to be cleared. Similarly war jagirs, which were due long back, had not been paid. In some cases even war jagir documents collected long back from the beneficiaries had not been returned to them. Sensing the gravity of
the problem faced by the veterans, the Indian
Ex-Servicemen League has decided to hold such mini
darbars in all districts of the state. |
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Rs 60 cr to be spent on
houses for poor PATIALA, May 11 — The Punjab Finance Minister, Capt Kanwaljit Singh, has said the state government will spend Rs 60 crore to develop dwelling units for weaker sections. Addressing a rural gathering at Sundra village under Dera Bassi block after handing over the keys of 66 houses to their owners on Sunday, he said the Akali Dal-BJP government was committed to the uplift of the weaker sections. Capt Kanwaljit also attacked the Congress party and said it did not have any agenda to present to the people and that the party would be held responsible for putting a burden of Rs 1100 crore on the country by forcing a poll. He also ridiculed the attempts to project Congress President Sonia Gandhi as the next Prime Minister of the country. The Finance Minister also laid the foundation stone of a link road between Sundra and Hinduwa villages and announced grants for the construction of circular roads and providing basic amenities. He said an electricity
sub station would be established in Mubarakpur shortly to
make it convenient for people of the nearby areas to
submit their electricity bills. |
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Advice not to sow rice before
June 10 LUDHIANA, May 11 — Dr G.L. Raina and Dr J.S. Sidhu of the rice research station of Punjab Agricultural University in Kapurthala have advised farmers of the state not to sow the rice crop before June 10 in order to keep the crop disease-free. They have observed that at present 13 diseases are found to attack rice in the state out of which four cause huge economic loss. Regarding the rice tungro disease which appeared in a severe form during the kharif season of 1998, experts have advised protecting the nursery by applying padan/caldan 4 G (cartap hydrochloride) and using foliar spray application of nuvacron/monocil 36 SL. In order to protect the transplanted crop two applications of insecticides at 10 days' interval are recommended for the control of stem borer and leaf folder. Regarding sheath blight
and sheath rot diseases, the experts suggest burning rice
straw from infected fields and using disease-free seed. |
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Three drowned in Bhakra canal ROPAR, May 11 — Three persons — Narpinder Singh (driver), Rajinder Singh and Inderjit Singh-were drowned today in the Bhakra canal near Gurdwara Parivar Vichhora Sahib, about 10 km from here, when the Maruti van (PB-10-S-1489) in which they were travelling plunged into the canal. According to the police, two other occupants of the van — Harminder Singh and Savinder Singh — were rescued by people. The bodies of the drowned persons are untraceable. The police said the victims were returning from Gurdwara Parivar Vichhora Sahib and going towards Ludhiana. A complaint has been
lodged with the local Sadar police station in this
regard. |
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Husband held for abetting suicide HOSHIARPUR, May 11 (UNI) — The police claims to have arrested a man accused of having driven his wife to commit suicide and registered a case of dowry death under Section 304-B the IPC against him. The SSP, Mr R.P. Mittal, today said Resham Singh of Meghowal Ganjian was arrested on Sunday on a complaint by Rupinder Kaur's father, who alleged that he had been pressing his daughter to bring money from her parents for purchasing a car and a piece of land since their marriage two years ago. Unable to meet the
demand, Rupinder Kaur, a teacher, allegedly consumed some
poison on the intervening of night of May 5 and 6 and
died. |
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DA instalment for Punjab
staff soon CHANDIGARH, May 11 — The Punjab Finance Minister, Capt. Kanwaljit Singh today met a delegation of the Punjab State Karamchari Dal, headed by Mr Hari Singh Tohra, and assured it that the government would soon release an instalment of DA on the Central pattern to its employees. The Dal presented a memorandum of 24 demands to the Finance Minister. The latter assured the Dal that the policy regarding regularisation of services of work-charged/daily wage employees would be decided within a month. The Anomaly committee
had been instructed to submit its report by June 30. |
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Nawaz Sharif's effigy burnt LUDHIANA, May 11 — Members of the Sikh Youth Welfare Forum today protested against the alleged involvement of the Pakistani Government in handing over the management of Nankana Sahib Gurdwara to militants. They burnt an effigy of Pakistani Premier Nawaz Sharif at the Chaoni Mohalla here today. The leaders asked the
Prime Minister,the SGPC chief, the SAD President to
"explain" this turn of events. |
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Trade unions call for 20-day
strike AMRITSAR, May 11 — Various trade unions and employees federations have given a call for a two-day (May 12 and 13) general strike in the district to express their solidarity with the striking workers/employees of the OCM Mill at Chheharta from tomorrow. Representatives of the All-India Trade Union Congress, the Hind Mazdoor Sabha, INTUC, CITU, the Bharatiya Mazdoor sangh and the Punjab Mazdoor Sangh have alleged that despite the strike entering its 90th day, the OCM management has not conceded the demands of the striking employees so far. Meanwhile, the Punjab Bank Employees Federation (Amritsar unit), in its meeting held here, condemned the attitude of the management of OCM Mills, Chheharta, for not settling the demands of their workers who are on a peaceful agitation for the realisation of their demands since February 12. In a press statement
released here today, Mr Ravi Razdan said it was most
unfortunate that mediation of all government conciliatory
authorities had yielded no result so far. The federation
fully endorsed the demands of the workers and extended
full sympathy to the striking workers. |
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Free education for 2 students BATHINDA, May 11 — Mr P.D. Goyal, President, Arya Model High School, today said two students, namely Ekta Kalia and Ishe, who stood second and seventh, respectively, in the middle class examination held by the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB), would be imparted education free of cost in the school up to class X. In a press note issued
here, he said the school had achieved three merit
positions in Punjab and for this achievement the staff
members would also be given special incentive. |
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Nurses threaten to launch stir PATIALA, May 11 — Members of the Punjab Nurses Association today threatened to launch an agitation in case the government did not withdraw a circular regarding recovery of Rs 3000 from the salary of a particular category of nurses. According to Mrs Jeewanpreet Kaur, president, of the association the Punjab government had issued a circular to all hospitals and health institutions directing that Rs 3000 was cut from the salary of the nurses as they had erroneously drawn salary as per the pay scale of Rs 5800-Rs 9200 notified by the Punjab Government. However, the lower limit of the pay scale was 5000. This had been printed wrongly as 5,800. Refusing to oblige the government, Mrs Jeewanpreet Kaur said nurses would face financial problems if the amount of Rs 3000 was cut from their salary each month till the excess amount was not recovered. She said the association had decided not to pay the amount back as the error was not the fault of the nurses. Moreover, the nurses had
been demanding a pay scale of Rs 5800-Rs 9200 and had
refused the scale of Rs 5000-Rs 9200, she added. |
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