Saturday, May 22, 1999
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P U N J A B | |
Saturday, May 22, 1999 |
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spotlight today's calendar |
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Badal
camp remains unfazed Crops wilt as water depletes |
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PRTC
unable to pay road tax Demolition of illegal bundh sought INTUC supports Sonia Gandhi Clerk suspended for fraud A memorable evening with TV show
winner Rain brings down mercury Nirankari chapter closed: Tohra Sant Samaj sets up panel 19 Punjab officials shuffled Encroachment on forest land
removed EO held on graft charge Two die in clash over land dispute Rs 17 cr for Sugarfed to clear
payments Bhakra breach plugged Room of SDM's office locked Octroi rates rolled back ST notification on halwais stayed Top agronomist dead Additional DA for Punjab staff Lack of funds hits development
works Brother killed over land dispute |
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News analysis LUDHIANA, May 21 — The SAD led by Mr Parkash Singh Badal remains unfazed by the move of Tohra loyalists to split the party and float a separate organisation headed by the ousted SGPC chief. Although Mr Tohra and his supporters have been at pains to stress that they are not floating a new party and are just replacing the "anti-Panthic" leadership of the SAD, which had "turned its back" on Akal Takht, in practical terms, it does mean the birth of a new political outfit built around the towering personality of the former SGPC President, who has dominated Akali politics for over a quarter of a century. The development poses no immediate threat to the stability of the Badal government, which, along with its coalition partner, the BJP, commands a three-fourths majority in the 117-member state Vidhan Sabha. Mr Tohra, who claims to command the loyalty of more than a dozen MLAs (Badal camp says that the number does not exceed six), lacks the requisite support of one-third of the total MLAs to split the party. With the dissolution of the Lok Sabha, the problem of the party splitting in the Lower House of parliament has been solved. However, Mr Tohra, along with his confident, Mr Sukhdev Singh Libra, is in a position to effect a split in the SAD in the Rajya Sabha. As a matter of fact, things have been moving towards such a split ever since the Akali Dal leadership decided to discipline Mr Tohra for his statement suggesting a change in the party leadership in the wake of the Akali debacle in the Adampur byelection in October last. The Akali leadership had calculated at that time that if it had to move against Mr Tohra, it would have to go the whole hog and remove him and his loyalists from all important positions in the government, the party and the SGPC, leading ultimately to a spilit in the party. Therefore, as Capt Kanwaljit Singh, the Finance Minister, puts it, the move comes as no surprise. What is surprising is that it took so long to materialise. The Badal camp believes that Mr Tohra will not be able to play up the issue of the removal of Bhai Ranjit Singh and appointment of Giani Puran Singh as Jathedar of Akal Takht for too long. And in the forthcoming Lok Sabha, elections Tohra loyalists will be unable to carry out any propaganda on this count against the Badal camp because the code of conduct laid down by the Election Commission strictly forbids raising religious issues during electioneering. Although the Tohra camp has let it be known that it will be putting up its nominees in most, if not all, of the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab, it is not yet clear how may seats the party hopes to bag. The Badal camp feels that the main contests in all constituencies will be between the two major contenders — the Akali-BJP alliance and the Congress — with the third force led by the Tohra faction playing the role of a spoiler. In the assessment of the
Badal camp, Mr Tohra wields appreciable influence only in
the districts of Ludhiana, Patiala, Sangrur and Fatehgarh
Sahib. Therefore, it claims that the Tohra group's
negative role will not undermine the overall poll
prospects of the Akali-BJP nominees. |
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Crops wilt as water depletes AMRITSAR, May 21 — Even as officials of Ranjit Sagar Dam are busy storing water in the reservoir so that the dam can have the required water level when it is dedicated to the nation by the Prime Minister next month, farmers have been raising hue and cry as very less water is being released in the Upper Bari Doab Canal (UBDC) which has resulted in the wilting of the crops due to the shortage of irrigation water. The Executive Engineer, UBDC, Gurdaspur through a telegram to the Chief Engineer (Field), Ranjit Sagar Dam, has expressed concern over the alarming situation being faced by the farmers due to the shortage of water in the canals. The telegram reads "UBDC is running with the discharge of 2,500 cusecs against 4,007 cusecs and Kashmir Canal's discharge is 350 cusecs against 569 cusecs while Shalimar distributory's discharge is nil against 250 cusecs which shows that all the canals of UBDC are getting less water supply, and hence farmers are raising hue and cry." In view of the inadequate release of water from Ranjit Sagar Dam, the sowing of paddy is likely to be adversely affected in a big way This would become a major poll issue as mid-term elections are round the corner. While officials of the UBDC and the Agricultural Department have alleged that the flow of water in canals has been reduced without taking them into confidence, the Chief Engineer (Field) Ranjit Sagar Dam, Mr N.S Chawla, has said the step has been taken with a view to store the water in the reservoir to an elevation of 487 metres so that the machines of the Dam could be run better and electricity generation could be started at the earliest. It is pertinent to mention here that Mr Parkash Singh Badal, Chief Minister, and the State Minister for Irrigation, Mr Sikandar Singh Maluka had announced that Dam was likely to be dedicated to the nation by the Prime Minister by the end of June. This could be only done if the reservoir level of the Dam reached the level of 487 metres. Mr N S Chawla further said the water was being released for UBDC to the extent that it was being received from Chamba hydro-electric project. The officials of the
UBDC said the depletion in the UBDC level was during the
last fortnight. However, the officials of Ranjit Sagar
Dam did not bother to release adequate water supply so
far. |
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Tercentenary's darker side NANGAL: The workers arrived in a group of 85 from Moradabad district of Uttar Pradesh. Fifty of them are children between the ages of eight to 12. Amar Singh and Shriram, both 10 years old, who work at road construction sites here, say they work from 8 in the morning till 10 at night and live in the temporary shacks constructed at the edge of the road. The plight of other children working at construction sites at Anandpur Sahib in gross violation of the Child Labour Act is similar. The Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation Act, 1986, prohibits employment of children in any building and construction activity. Most of the children employed here are brought in by 'jamadars' (labour contractors). The jamadars, themselves labourers from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar or Madhya Pradesh, have been working in these areas for the past few years and are paid by construction companies to act as middlemen in procuring labour. The jamadars in turn get in labour, mostly women and children, from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Parents of the children brought in as labour are paid Rs 1,000 to Rs 3,000 according to the capability of the child as adjudicated by the jamadar. In return the children work at least 10 hours a day at nominal wages in hazardous conditions. After they are paid in kind in rice and other food rations every 15 days, which they prepare themselves. The irony is that most
of the children here are working at development work
under the aegis of government agencies, says an activist
of a local NGO, Arpan, which is planning to take up the
case of the children with the Punjab Government. |
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PRTC unable to pay road tax BATHINDA, May 21 — Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) has been finding it difficult to pay full amount of special road tax (SRT) to the Punjab Government since July 1997 due to financial crises. Official sources said that the PRTC paid about Rs 9 crore as SRT to the Punjab Government in 1997-98 against the total liability of Rs 23 crore and paid Rs 9.5 crore as SRT in 1998-99 against the total liability of Rs 30 crore. For the current financial year, the PRTC authorities were again finding it difficult to pay the Punjab Government its full annual SRT. Sources said that PRTC was facing financial crisis despite the 44 per cent increase in the bus fares carried out by the Punjab Government recently due to the unprecedented rise in the number of persons having free bus travel facility. Official sources said at present the percentage of free travellers in the state owned transport was about 50 and number of free travellers beloning to all categories were more than seven lakh. The number of travellers who had been extended concessions in the bus fare were also in lakhs. The other main factor for the financial crisis of the PRTC was the non-reimbursement of money spent by the PRTC for extending the facility of free travel to the old age women by the Punjab Government. Out of total amount of Rs 18 crore which the PRTC claimed from Punjab Government in 1997-98 as reimbursement for the facility of free travel extended to different categories in the state, it could get only Rs 7 about crore while in 1998-99 it could get only Rs 5 crore against the total claim of about Rs 24 crore. Official sources added that the PRTC authorities was hoping that in the current financial year they would get meagre amount against the estimated claim of Rs 27 crore. A senior official of PRTC when contacted at Patiala told TNS on the condition of anonymity that apart from facility of free travel, PRTC was suffering heavy losses on account of plying of buses on uneconomical routes, plying of illegal buses by the private operators and presence of large number of vehicles in Punjab which were plying as illegal taxis. The official said that
PRTC was also paying Rs 6 crore annually to the Punjab
Government as interest on the capital borrowed from it.
He added that the PRTC was in the financial mess as the
Punjab Government always increased the fare in irrational
manner. |
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Demolition of illegal bundh sought DEVIGARH (Patiala), May 21 — A 3-km-long illegal bundh built on government land in the Bhogpur reserve forest near here has become a bone of contention between various villages and has caused tension in the area. The bundh, which has been built by villagers of Kharabgarh and Beehpur villages over a period of 10 to 15 days with the alleged connivance of certain Forest Department officials has already led to a stand-off between villagers of Kharabgarh and those on the other side of the bundh when an attempt to level it was made two days back. Though a clash was averted when villagers of Ganeshpur, Kartarpur, Balongi, Jhungian retreated back their tractor-trailers which they had brought to demolish the bundh, a flash point may come any time as the district administration has not taken any action to resolve the crisis. The people of 10 villages have alleged that their crop in thousands of acres and dwellings would be submerged in case the bundh, which links the Tangri and the Markanda rivers, is not removed before the advent of the first rains. They say the bundh obstructs the natural flow of river water coming from the catchment area which extends to the Shivalik mountains. Sarpanches of some of these villages had approached the Divisional Forest Officer in this regard some days ago. Jaswant Singh, a villager of Ganeshpur Plat, said the officer had directed them to the Executive Engineer, Drainage, who had sent them to SDO, Drainage. Mr Jaswant said as the SDO was not available they had then approached the district administration. The villagers are demanding that the Deputy Commissioner visit the bundh site immediately. Gian Singh, another resident of Ganeshpur, said it was intriguing that Forest Department officials at the Bhogpur reserve forest allowed villagers to build a bundh on forest land without informing the higher authorities of the illegal activity. He and other villagers said trees had also been cut illegally for the purpose. The villagers said the bundh if allowed to remain would also harm the forest adversely as stagnant water would affect the trees. A visit to the site showed that a six-foot bundh had been built on the edge of the forest. Forest officials on the spot said a few opening were being made in the bundh so that a pool of water does not form behind it. However, villagers who are likely to be affected by the bundh say openings in the bundh would destroy the crop of nearby farmers and would cause further damage. Though Bhogpur forest officials have now asked for a few days time to demolish the bundh, villagers said there was need to do it immediately as it would be difficult to remove the bundh after the advent of rains. They said the matter needed to be tackled strictly as villagers of Kharabgarh and Beehpur are expected to resist the levelling of the bundh. Meanwhile, Divisional
Forest Officer H.S. Grewal said he was convinced that
forest officials had resorted to illegal practice by
allowing the bundh to come up on forest land. He said he
had suspended forest guard Naseerudin and recommended the
suspension of forester Guriqbal Singh. He said the Deputy
Divisional Forest Officer had been directed to conduct an
inquiry into the incident and directions had been given
to level the bundh. |
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INTUC supports Sonia Gandhi JALANDHAR, May 21 (UNI) — The three-day meeting of the national executive of the Indian Trade Union Congress (INTUC) began here today with the INTUC national President Mr G. Sanjiva Reddy, claiming that 1 crore members of INTUC supported Mrs Sonia Gandhi and wanted her to strengthen the Congress party for the coming Lok Sabha elections. Mr Reddy, who arrived to a rousing reception at the city railway station organised by the INTUC-affiliated Uttari Railway Mazdoor Union, endorsed the expulsion of senior Congress leaders Mr Sharad Pawar, Mr P.A. Sangma and Mr Tariq Anwar from the Congress for "betraying" the party at a crucial moment when the party was gathering strength under the able leadership of Mrs Sonia Gandhi. He said it was because of her leadership that the party was able to win the recent state elections. Mr Reddy, who addressed rallies outside the railway station and at Deshbhagat Yadagar Hall, condemned "anti-labour and anti-working class policies" of the Vajpayee government, alleging 1.25 lakh small industrial units, besides several large and medium units had gone sick under the coalition government, rendering thousands of workers idle. The INTUC president demanded unemployment allowance of Rs 1500 per month and an increase in the exemption limit of income tax to Rs 1 lakh because with the recent wage revision even Class IV employees have come in the income tax bracket, resulting in virtual wipe-out of their wage hike. Mr Reddy also demanded the setting up of the second National Labour Commission promised by the Vajpayee government. Tributes were also paid to Rajiv Gandhi by INTUC leaders on the occasion of his death anniversary today. The Punjab Congress Vice-President Mr Avtar Henry and the DCC (Urban) President Mr Mahinder Singh Kapur, among others welcomed the INTUC leaders at the Deshbhagat Yadgar Hall rally organised by the Punjab Subordinate Services Federation, Chairman Mr Subash Sharma with the cooperation of Punjab Roadways, PRTC, PWD, PSEB and JCT Mills Unions affiliated with the INTUC. INTUC State Secretary Subash Sharma said meetings of various sub-committees of the INTUC began today to outline the issues to be taken up at the 239th national executive meeting which will be held here tomorrow. The meeting is being
held for the first time in Punjab after 1964, he added. |
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Clerk suspended for fraud KAPURTHALA, May 21 — A fraud involving a sum of Rs 30,000 has been detected in the local Excise and Taxation Department and a clerk responsible for it has been placed under suspension. Mr Surjit Singh, Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner, said today that clerk Bhupinder Singh had been withdrawing slalaries of two constables in excess against the sanctioned posts amounting to Rs 30,000 during the past eight months. The fraud was detected this month during the checking of records. On detection Bhupinder Singh deposited the withdrawn amount in two instalment with the department. The commissioner said an enquiry had been initiated against the clerk and action would be taken against him after the completion of enquiry. According to reliable
sources of the department the clerk had been pocketing
the money with the connivance of a high official of the
department. |
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A memorable evening with
TV show winner ABOHAR: All those present on either side of the Indo-Pakistan border had tears rolling down their cheeks as Udbhav Ozha, the mega final winner of the TV programme," Meri Awaz Suno", started sobbing near a border observation post in the Sulemanki sector. It was his first visit to an international border. He was asked to sing before a gathering of Indian and Pakistani nationals who had come to see The Retreat ceremony by the BSF and Pak Rangers. Pakistanis on the other side of the border were able to recognise Udbhav as most of them had also watched the mega final on the satellite channel. As Udbhav started singing "Pyaar bantte chalo, na Hindu na Musalman hum sab hain bhai bhai", he sobbed after completing the first stanza as he had never imagined of performing on the border, his voice crossing the man-made border. Udbhav Ozha had come to Sriganganagar to participate in a musical evening on the invitation of a journalist, Kamal Nagpal, who was celebrating 20th anniversary of his regional daily. Mr Ozha was accompanied by Pritha Mazumdar, his co-winner in the final, and a team of musicians from Mumbai who had composed music for the TV programme. Some artistes from Delhi and Jaipur had also joined the troupe. For Ozha, it was a different evening because he had come to perform in his in-laws city and was feeling comfortable. His wife, Jaya, belonged to Sriganganagar, as also his brother-in-law, Akshit Pandey, and sister-in-law Aparna Pandey. The latter's daughter, Pavni, also entertained the 1800 strong audience which included music lovers from Abohar, Fazilka, Jalalabad, etc. Pritha Mazumdar started with a bhajan "Allah tero naam ishwar tero naam" There was no formal inauguration or speech, though more than a dozen MLAs including a minister and senior civil and police officers were present. The bhajan was followed by the number from a popular Hindi film. She was then joined by Udbhav for a duet "Kitne bhi tu kar le sitam". Udbhav presented a beautiful Kishore Kumar solo of "Yeh dil na hota bechara" whose music was composed by SD Burman. Udbhav preferred to present a popular Kishore number in a strikingly similar voice that those outside the pandal said had Kishore been alive it would have been difficult to believe he was not singing. Akshit Pandey demonstrated his command by presenting a Mukesh number from the film "Mera Naam Joker". Little Pavni forced the gathering to clap with her while singing two numbers. Many members of the Pandey and Ozha families were present at the musical evening which concluded after midnight. Mrs Vijay Luxmi Bishnoi,
MLA from Suratgarh, and daughter of a former Assembly
Speaker was also in the august audience who remained
spell-bound for five hours. There was no whistling and
decorum was observed — something rarely seen in the
musical programmes of Punjabi artistes. |
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Rain brings down mercury CHANDIGARH, May 21 (PTI) — Widespread rainfall accompanied with high velocity wind at a few places in Punjab and Haryana today brought sharp decline in the temperature with normal life in the region going out of order. Rain waters inundated low lying areas besides disrupting electricity and water supply at some places in plains of Punjab and Haryana Chandigarh and its surrounding areas were lashed with heavy downpour this afternoon bringing the mercury two degrees below normal, a weather office spokesman said. He said upper air cyclonic circulation over central Pakistan extending upto 1.5 km above sea level and a trough from the system extended to the centre of circulation over south-east Pakistan were the reasons behind the rainfall in parts of Punjab and Haryana. Rohtak in Haryana had 9.8 mm of rainfall, Narnaul 10mm, Hisar 0.8mm, Nangal dam in Punjab 6.6mm and Bathinda 1mm of rainfall. The weather office has warned of thunder squall with a wind speed exceeding 45km per hour at isolated places in Punjab and Haryana. The spokesman has predicted moderate to rather heavy rainfall at many a places in Punjab and Haryana during the next 24 hours. HAMIRPUR (FOC): Various parts of the district were lashed by heavy rains on Friday and Thursday night as result the temperature fell sharply. The rains also brought a relief from the scorching sun. Earlier, a squall hit various parts of the district and caused widespread damages to the standing trees and tinned roofs of a number of kutcha houses were blown away. This rain is considered
beneficial for the kharif crops and also helpful to the
Forest Department to save its forests from burning. |
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Nirankari chapter closed: Tohra PATIALA, May 21 — Former SGPC chief Gurcharan Singh Tohra today said the issue of his alleged visit to Nirankari Bhavan here was a closed chapter and anyone opening it would be guilty of violating the hukamnama of Akal Takht. Talking to reporters here after addressing a meeting of his supporters, Mr Tohra said the fact that even Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Puran Singh had refused to reopen the case proved that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal did not know of the traditions of Akal Takht. The former SGPC chief said the Chief Minister and his group had acted in a childish manner by passing a resolution appealing to the Akal Takht Jathedar to reopen the case at a party conference held at Fatehgarh Sahib recently to launch its election campaign. He said no one could comment on the case now as Akal Takht had given its decision in this regard after much deliberation. Speaking of a prospective alliance with other parties for the forthcoming Lok Sabha poll, he said talks had been held with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). He said it had been decided to go in for an alliance with the BSP as both had agreed on basic principles. He said his group was keeping its options open on an understanding with the Left as they were also committed to defeating the Congress and the BJP. Asked about the recent allegations levelled by SGPC President Bibi Jagir Kaur against him, he said while he had made the SGPC rich as property worth crores of rupees was acquired by it during his tenure, Bibi Jagir Kaur had started giving away SGPC property. He said while the SGPC had suffered a loss of Rs 1.50 crore which was spent on constructing a pandal for official functions at Anandpur Sahib during the tercentenary celebrations, Rs 70 lakh was spent on advertisements alone. He said he had not spent such a huge amount on advertisements during his 25-year tenure. Answering questions about SGPC funds not being audited during his tenure, he said this was not the case. He had been requesting the government since the past two years to get the funds audited and after he failed internal auditing of the funds had been done. Earlier addressing his supporters, the former SGPC chief said only those leaders of Patiala who had vested interests were with the Chief Minister. He claimed that 115 of the 124 party delegates from the district were present at the meeting. SAD leader from Tarn Taran Prem Singh Lalpura announced that Mr Tohra would be made the President of the new Akali Dal on May 30 at Ludhiana. He castigated the Chief Minister for failing to get any demand of the state accepted by the Centre despite having an alliance with the BJP. Mr Lalpura said all Akali workers of the district were with Mr Tohra and that Mr Prem Singh Chandumajra would be their choice in the coming elections. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Chandumajra said the Chief Minister had collected people from five districts to launch his campaign at Fatehgarh Sahib. He said in sharp contrast, people had gathered on their own today and would come in large numbers at Fatehgarh Sahib tomorrow where a party meeting was being held. Among others who spoke
on the occasion were former ministers Harmail Singh Tohra
and Mr Surjit Singh Kohli, besides Shatrana legislator
Gurdev Singh Sidhu. |
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Attempt to end SAD feud LUDHIANA, May 21 — The Sant Samaj has constituted a seven-member committee in a last-ditch attempt to bring about reconciliation between the warring Akali factions led by Mr Parkash Singh Badal and Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra. Baba Sarbjot Singh Bedi, president of the Sant Samaj, told newsmen from his sick bed in the local CMC hospital here today that the Sant Samaj was neutral in the present war of words between Mr Tohra and Mr Badal and would like to appeal to both leaders to come together in the larger interests of the Sikh community. He also lodged a strong
protest against the police action in confining Bhai
Ranjit Singh to his residence in Amritsar yesterday. He
also said that Bhai Ranjit Singh was the "first Sikh
leader" who had openly condemned
"Khalistan" and violence. |
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19 Punjab officials
shuffled CHANDIGARH, May 21 — The Punjab Government today issued orders on yet another round of postings and transfers — third in a fortnight — shifting 19 IAS/PCS officers. Mr Saravjit Singh is posted as Additional Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana; Mr H.R. Megh, goes as Special Secretary to the Department of Cooperation, and Mr Tejveer Singh is Additional Deputy Commissioner (Development), Ludhiana. Mrs Jaspreet Talwar becomes Additional Chief Administrator, Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority, Ludhiana, Mr Dalbir Kumar is posted as Additional Deputy Commissioner (Development), Hoshiarpur, and Mr Hussan Lal, is Additional Deputy Commissioner, Gurdaspur. Mr D.D. Ternach, is now Additional Director (Admn) O/o Director State Transport Punjab, Mr G.K. Singh, is Subdivisional Magistrate, Barnala, Mr T.P.S. Phoolka is Assistant Commissioner (Grievances), Patiala, Mr Dilraj Singh is Assistant Commissioner (General) Amritsar, and Mr Narinder Singh is Assistant Commissioner (General), Muktsar. Mr Sukhvinder Pal Singh is Deputy Director, Urban Local Bodies, Jalandhar and in addition ADC (II), Jalandhar, Mr Chandar Gaind is Land Acquisition Officer, PWD (B&R) Jalandhar and Mr Bir Pal Singh is Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Jalandhar-II. Mr Tej Kumar Goyal, is Subdivisional Magistrate, Raikot, and Mrs Inderbir Kaur Mann is Assistant Commissioner (General), Patiala, Mr Om Parkash Verma is Assistant Commissioner (General) Ludhiana, and Mr Inderpreet Singh Kahlon is Assistant Commissioner (General), Ferozepore. Mr Harbans Lal Bansal is
Assistant Commissioner (General), Gurdaspur. |
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Encroachment on forest land removed HOSHIARPUR, May 21 — In a joint operation by the district and forest officials, encroachment on 25 acres of prime forest land on the Hoshiarpur-Una road was removed today in Mehlanwali village, 8 km from here. This land had been encroached in 1984 and the Forest Department had filed cases in this connection against Jaswant Singh, Tarsem Singh, Prem Singh and Gurmit Ram, all belonging to this village. The cases were decided in favour of the Forest Department in December, 1996. The appeals made by the encroachers were again decided in favour of the Forest Department in December, 1998. In compliance of this order, possession of this land was given after following due procedure by the Kanungo concerned, Mr Lakha Singh, and the Patwari, Mr Amarjit Singh, to the Forest Department. Tarsem Singh demolished his house on the land and took away all his belongings. Mr Ratna Kumar,
Divisional Forest Officer, said efforts were on to remove
encroachments in Dada, Nara and Manjhi villages. |
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EO held on graft charge JALANDHAR, May 21 — The police has arrested Mr Som Nath Keshav, Executive Officer of the Municipal Committee, Phillaur, on a charge of taking a bribe. Mr Gaurav Yadav, SSP, said here today that a complaint was received from Mr Bheem Singh who had alleged that the Executive Officer (EO) demanded Rs 5 lakh from him for allotting him a plot. A sum of Rs 3 lakh was allegedly handed over to the EO by the complainant on April 23. However, the EO allegedly demanded Rs 2 lakh more from the complainant. The SSP said an inquiry was conducted by the SDM Phillaur, who concluded that illegal gratification was taken by the EO and serious irregularities were committed. Legal opinion from the District Attorney (Legal) was also obtained regarding the offences which the EO allegedly committed, Mr Yadav said. The SSP said that subsequently a case under Section 7, 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, was registered against the EO at Phillaur police station and further investigation was entrusted to Mr Opinderjit Singh Ghuman, DSP, Phillaur. Mr Keshav was arrested
today and was being produced in the court. |
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Two die in clash over land dispute JALANDHAR, May 21 (UNI) — Two men died, including one of gunshot wounded and six were injured today in an armed clash over a land dispute at Pholriwal village on the city’s outskirts today, police sources said. Those killed have been identified as Gurmail Singh and Ranjit Singh, while the injured, Kewal Singh, Mokha and Debi, belonging to the Gurmail Singh group and Santokh Singh, Parminder Singh and Jarnail Singh of the rival Ranjit Singh group were admitted to different hospitals for treatment,the sources added. The condition of Parminder Singh was described critical and he had been sent to DMC Hospital in Ludhiana. Santokh Singh, Jarnail Singh and Kewal Singh were under treatment at the local civil hospital, whereas Mokha and Debi were being treated privately, the sources added. According to the sources when Gurmail Singh went to fields today he had a verbal duel with Ranjit Singh and his associates They reportedly went home to get arms. While Gurmail Singh and his companions returned equipped with lethal weapons, Ranjit Singh’s group came armed with a .12-bore gun because the gunshot that killed Gurmail Singh was of the same calibre, the sources added. In the clash that
followed after mutual killings, three persons each
belonging to two rival groups were wounded. |
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Rs 17 cr for Sugarfed to
clear payments CHANDIGARH, May 21 — The Punjab Government today released a sum of Rs 17 crore to Sugarfed to clear the pending payments to the farmers who had supplied sugarcane to the cooperative sugar mills. With the release of the balance payment it will be the first time in the past so many years when the total cane payment to the sugarcane growers of the cooperative sugar mills to the tune of Rs 205 crore would stand released before May 31. The cooperative sugar mills had already released Rs 188 crore to the farmers against payments due to them, according to a government press note. The 14 cooperative sugar
mills had crushed 218.69 lakh quintals of cane in the
crushing season (1998-99). These mills are expecting 330
lakh quintals of cane crushing in the coming season
(1999-2000), which will be about 50 per cent more than
the total cane crushed of 218 quintals in 1998-99. |
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Bhakra breach plugged CHANDIGARH, May 21 — The Bhakra Main Line (BML) canal which suffered a major breach caused by uprooted trees during cyclonic conditions near Shatrana in Patiala district on the night of May 12, has reportedly been plugged, lined and 1,000 cusecs of water released. The Haryana Irrigation
Engineer-in-Chief informed the Chief Minister, Mr Bansi
Lal, about the plugging and release of water in the BML
during a state-level Coordination Committee for
Agricultural Production meeting held here today. |
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Room of SDM's office locked ROPAR, May 21 — Mr Justice K.S. Kumaran, inspecting Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, today ordered that a room of the Sub Divisional Magistrate's office here be locked since its employees disturbed court work. According to sources
here, the key of the locked room is now with the
Superintendent of the office of District and Sessions
Judge here. The room houses the office of the Sub
Divisional Literacy Samiti whose chairman is the SDM. |
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Octroi rates rolled back LUDHIANA, May 21 — The Punjab Government has rolled back the rates of octroi leviable on a large number of items in the municipal corporations of Ludhiana and Amritsar with immediate effect. According to an official
notification here today, the items covered by the
notification include all kinds of tea, nuts, mushrooms,
dry dates, allopathic and homoeopathic medicines and
drugs, cotton and yarn up to two ply or thread, all types
of knitting wool more than two ply woollen yarn or wool
thread, silk yarn, mercerized cotton yarn, all types of
synthetic fibre like nylon, terene, cotton piece goods,
hosiery, blankets and ready clothes, all kinds of
articles, utensils and crockery made of plastic material
or similar other synthetic material, all kinds of
stationery, rubber, iron, pig iron, iron sheets, utensils
made of stainless steel, wooden sleepers and logs ect. |
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ST notification on halwais stayed JALANDHAR, May 21 (UNI) — The Punjab Government has stayed the operation of its March 19 notification levying sales tax on articles manufactured by halwais and bakery owners in the state pending resolution of the parameters of imposition of the tax on lumpsum basis. The decision was conveyed by Financial Commissioner (Taxation) C.L. Bains to a deputation of Punjab halwais and bakers led by BJP Rajya Sabha member Lajpatrai who met Mr Bains at Chandigarh yesterday. It was decided at the meeting that a list of dealers eligible for the imposition of tax be prepared according to the criteria laid down by the government and then the proposal for imposting lumpsum tax be decided through mutual discussion. However, the proposals
must ensure that neither there was any loss of revenue to
the state government nor harassment caused to halwais and
bakers, a press note of the Excise and Taxation
Department said here today. |
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Top agronomist dead LUDHIANA, May 21 — Dr Mukhtiar Singh, an eminent and senior most agronomist of the country , passed away here on May 19. He had an excellent career record. He was theDeputy Agriculture Commissioner , Government of India and also served as Director of IGFI, Jhansi and Cazri, Jodhpur. He retired as the director of CPRI, in 1975. Dr Mukhtiar Singh also received a President's gold medal for his contributions. The PAU Vice-Chancellor
, Dr G.S. Kalkat, and another former Vice-Chancellor, Dr
Sukhdev Singh have expressed their condolences to the
bereaved family. He is survived by two sons. The
cremation would take place tomorrow. |
||
Additional DA for Punjab staff CHANDIGARH, May 21 — The Punjab Finance Minister, Capt Kanwaljit Singh, today announced the release of an additional instalment of dearness allowance at the rate of 10 per cent of the basic pay for Punjab government employees with effect from January 1, 1999. The minister said that the amount due for the period between January 1 to September 30, 1999 in case of employees would be deposited in their GPF accounts. The Finance minister also announced the release of dearness relief for pensioners. With this the total
dearness relief goes up to 32 per cent. Its payment would
entail a commitment of Rs 42 crore on the part of
government up to February 29 next year. |
||
Advocates strike work MOGA, May 21 (PTI) — Advocates in the district today struck work to protest against the alleged "illegal" detention of a local senior advocate by the police. The advocates after an emergency meeting here decided to go on strike till May 25 and also gave a statewide strike call by all Bar associations in the state for May 25, District Bar Association President Nasib Bawa said. The call was given in protest against the alleged "manhandling and illegal detention" of a senior advocate, Mr Kulbhushan Sood, for more than five hours allegedly by local police yesterday. The senior advocate was not even allowed by the Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) to wear his clothes when he was called by the police to the police station, he alleged. The advocate was taken to the police station on foot in under garments only, he alleged. The Moga Bar Association
demanded immediate suspension of both the ASI and the SHO
incharge of the police station and also the registration
of a case against both of them. |
||
Lack of funds hits
development works GURDASPUR, May 21 — The state is in dire strain financially if the non-availability of funds for development project in this district is any indication. Development activity, including pavement of border roads, is at standstill. The road between Gurdaspur and Gahlri for which Funds were sanctioned long ago has still not been completed. Only half of this road has been paved which is likely to get damaged if more funds for pavement are not released before the rains. Each MLA was sanctioned Rs 25 lakh each and even the cheques in this regard were issued. But the cheques are not being encashed by the local treasury due to absence of orders from the Director, Finance. The Punjab Government has imposed undeclared financial emergency and for every clearance of a cheqe, telephonic permission from the Director of Finance in the state Ministry of Finance is absolutely necessary. According to officials sources cheques worth rupees several crores relating to development projects are pending for clearance in various treasuries of the districts. The district
administration prepared a project long back for
construction of a bridge each opposite Makaura Ferri over
the Ravi river and over the Ujj River opposite Khojkichak
village in this district to provide direct communication
to the residents of 20 villages but nothing concrete has
been done in this regard. |
||
Brother killed over land dispute FAZILKA, May 21 — An elderly man was allegedly killed by his real brother over a land dispute, while three persons, including a woman, were injured in Tahliwala Bodla village of this subdivision last evening. According to an FIR lodged with teh sadar police by Satnam Singh, a resident of the village, his cousin brother, Bachan Singh, son of Datar Singh, had been demanding his share of land from his father, who had been denying it to him. Bachan Singh reportedly sought the help of his uncle, Harnam Singh, who in turn asked his brother, Datar Singh, to give him (Bachan Singh) his due share of land. Datar Singh got enraged at this and a dispute took place a fortnight ago. The dispute, however, resolved on the intervention of the village panchayat. Last evening, a dispute erupted again over this issue between both brothers in the presence of their family members. Datar Singh, along with his wife, Gehlo Bai, two sons, Ranjit Singh and Surjit Singh and his wife, Kaushalya Bai, and two other companions, Arjun Singh and Avtar Singh, allegedly attacked Harnam Singh and his family members, with sharp-edged weapons and sticks. This resulted in the death of Harnam Singh on the spot. His sons, Balbir Singh and Jagtar Singh, and Hardevan Bal were injured. The sadar police has
registered a case against all seven accused and taken
Gehlo Bai into custody. The other accused have absconded. |
||
Moga Youth Akali Dal splits MOGA, May 21 (PTI) — A split took place in the district unit of the Youth Akali Dal (Badal) when almost all office-bearers and their supporters decided to resign en masse yesterday. They also decided to form the Youth Akali Dal owing allegiance to Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra. In a statement Mr Gurdev Singh Khalsa, President, Youth Akali Dal, city and supported by other office-bearers, including Joginder Singh Jagi, General Secretary, Kulvinder Singh, Senior Vice-President, Sukhvinder Singh Billoo, Vice-President, Sukhvinder Singh, District Secretary and Bhupinder Singh Bharaich, District Secretary, they alleged that they decided to quit the Youth Akali Dal (Badal) and join Youth Akali Dal having allegiance to Tohra. These youth leaders were critical of the attitude of Akali Dal President and Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal for expelling Tohra. The new district unit
will be formed on May 22. |
||
Telecom modernisation drive
launched JALANDHAR, May 21 — Jalandhar Telecommunications has launched a drive to modernise and upgrade its telecom network while the old manual and electro-mechanical exchanges have been replaced by electronic exchanges. All exchange lines today are 100 pre cent electronic with 99.5 per cent of these being of the latest digital technology. As many as 28 per cent have integerated services digital network (ISDN) capability which can provide the facilities of high-speed data communication at 64 kilo bytes per second and video conferencing etc. Mr Rajesh Wadhwa General Manager telecom, here said state-of-the-art digital optical fibre cable (OFC) type of transmission systems have already been inducted on heavy telephone traffic routes. Besides providing very high quality of transmission links, OFC systems have the capacity to support a large number of channels circuits on a single pair of fibre and the number of circuits can be further increased manifolds without laying new cables just by changing the terminal equipments. During 1998-99, OFC connectivity was extended to Nakodar, Bhogpur, Banga, Kartarpur, Jandusingha, Patara, Bal, Alawalpur, Fattudhingha, Kheradona, Boolpur, Talwandi Chaudharian, Aur, Rahon, Chakdana Langroya, Athola and Khojewal. Such OFC links will be extended to most of the remaining exchanges even in rural areas, by 2000. OFC and other new systems has resulted in the elimination of the congestion on many routes and has brought about remarkable qualitative improvement in services. The inter-exchange as well as inter-city calls on level 92 and STD/ISD are now much more easily available. It has been possible to handle the increase in traffic due to the new Local Areas Policy and the reduction of STD/ISD tarrif. Extensive computerisation of fault repair services (FRSS) and induction of computerised interactive voice response systems (IVRS) has also been undertaken. Nearly 27 exchange FRSS have already been computerised and IVRS systems installed at seven exchanges. Subscribers can feed their complaints directly into the computer round-the-clock without the operator's assistance. A computerised automatic changed number announcement system has also been istalled at Jalandhar. It automatically provides the new changed number corresponding to the old number through computer-generated voice to the customer. Mr Wadhwa further said
it had been planned to instal an intelligent network
services system at Jalandhar which would provide for
special value-added services like virtual calling card,
premium rate and free phone calling (called party
charged) services. |
||
Medical students withdraw stir PATIALA, May 21 — The Medicos Action Committee today withdrew their 10-day long chain fast and strike in response to a scholarship package announced for medical students by the Punjab Government. Mr Rajinder Kumar, convener of the committee, in a press statement said that under the package 10 per cent students in each medical and para-medical course will be exempted from 50 per cent college fee. With this scheme 35 MBBS and 24 post graduate students will benefit. Burying their
differences with the Principal of the college, Dr S.S.
Sidhu, the committee accepted the pleading of cases of
the suspended students by a disciplinary committee. |
||
Punjabi University announces
vacation PATIALA, May 21 — Punjabi University, today announced the schedule of vacation for 1999-2000 for its affiliated colleges, except medical, dental, ayurvedic and homoeopathic colleges. The affiliated colleges
will remain closed on account of summer vacation from May
24 to July 11, from October 18 to 23 for autumn vacation
and from December 24 to 31 for winter vacation,
respectively, according to an official press note. |
||
No plan to join Cong, says
Chaudhry NANGAL, May 21 — Mr Madan Mohan Mittal, Food andd Civil Supplies Minister, and Mr. Kamal Chaudhary, MP, who represents this constituency, started a mass contact programme here yesterday. Both leaders visited Bhatton Pallasi, Nangran, and Bela Ramgarh villages and listened to the problems of villagers. While addressing a large rally at Bela Ramgarh village, Mr Mittal, making an indirect reference to Mrs Sonia Gandhi, said no person of foreign origin should be allowed to occupy the office of Prime Minister, President Vice-President , and Chief Justice of India, and Chief Election Commissioner. Mr Chaudhary said "some of his friends in the Congress" were trying to spread rumours regarding his return the Congress. He however, dismissed all these rumours, saying that he had full faith in Mr Vajpayee's leadership. Later in the evening Mr Mittal inaugurated a gymnasium in Sector 4 of Naya Nangal, a park on Ajouli mod, water and sewerage system in the kiln area of Nangal. The President of local
municipal council, Mr Rakesh Sharma, the President of the
BJP Nangal, rural and urban units, Mr Parminder Sharma
and Mr Chander Kumar Bajaj, respectively, were among
those present. |
||
Inferior sugar at ration shops MOGA, May 21 — Residents here are indignant over inferior quality of commodities supplied to them by government fair price shops they said here today that sugar supplied to them was not only brown in colour but also was rain soaked. They further alleged that certain officials of Civil Supplies Department replace quality sugar with inferior quality and supply it to fair price shops earning marginal profit. They have urged the
government to look into matter and make arrangements so
that quality goods are supplied to them. They demanded
regular supply of kerosene which was in acute shortage. |
||
Widows await pensions MOGA, May 21 — A
large number of old persons, including widows and the
infirm in Faridkot district, had earlier complained about
the non-disbursement of their monthly pensions by the
Social Welfare Department have not received their
pensions so far. They told reporters here today that they
had demanded the disbursment of their monthly pensions,
and disposal of their pension cases within a month as
they were unable to meet their day to day requirements. |
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